Lt Colonel John Doe
by Sarahzilla
Summary: Col Sheppard has amnesia and Atlantis doesn't know where he is, and when Rodney returns without his memory too, foul play is suspected.
1. The Bad Day

_**Description:** My take on an overdone theme in television. Amnesia. Hopefully it's a bit different than the usual 'oh I got conked on the head and now can't remember a thing' type story. I hope you enjoy it, I was a little hesitant at first to put this to paper, but I'm glad I did. It's still a WIP, but it's nearly done! It's rated T becuase of Sheppard's libido(just implied, nothing graphic or overt), no matter how much he forgets, Captain Kirk will always guide his actions.  
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_**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Stargate franchise, nor am I compensated for anything done using material from such franchise. However if the gods of the Stargate are reading this... I'm a hard worker, I make great coffee, and if I can see Joe Flannigan, Paul McGillion or Kavan Smith then I'll work for pennies!  
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Chapter One: The Worst Day of Sheppard's Life **

The ring of the ancients had been silent and still for many weeks. Yacob, one of several assigned to guard it at night, had become lax in his duties and had 'accidentally' turned the security cameras in the room off. It was something done commonly during the slow nights so the guards could relax and play a popular card game.

"I will raise the betting pool by seventy," he said, pushing several betting chips into the center of the table.

A young woman, Sylva, a guard as well, peered over her cards, "Yacob, you are being more daring than normal. Perhaps you are just bluffing?" She also tossed several chips onto the pile in the middle.

"Ah, if I were bluffing I would not be betting this much."

Another man guffawed, "You lie badly."

"I believe you are right," agreed Sylva. "Yacob has nothing in his cards right now." She raised an eyebrow at the other guard silently asking him to tell her otherwise.

"I see what you two are doing. And you are not succeeding." Yacob shook his finger at the two, "No, I will not give you any more opportunity's to try and determine if I am bluffing or not. Show your hands."

The two reluctantly displayed their cards. With an impassive look on his Yacob stared at their hands.

"Well, show us what you have!" demanded the other man.

"Very well, this…" he was cut off by a sudden tremor that vibrated up through the floor. Looking at the ring of the ancestors he realized that it was activating.

The three dove aside as the shimmering blue event horizon exploded from the ring disintegrating the card table that was before it. From it a man ran out, he was bloody and out of breath. Seeing the guards there his eyes widened and he made to flee, however a second figure, a man with dark messy hair, soared out and landed on him knocking them both to the ground.

Yacob stared in disbelief for a moment, he had not been told the ring would be used tonight. Coming to his senses however, he noticed right away that the uniform the first individual was wearing was not of his people, it was of the Paedagogi, their enemy. Shouting for his friends to arm themselves, he raised a gun at the struggling pair on the floor.

The man that had come out second had managed to pin the first to the floor, after backhanding him across the face with the butt of his gun, he looked up at the approaching guard.

"Drop the weapon, stand up, and put your hands behind your head," commanded Yacob. He glanced back to see where his friends were, they were just entering the armory to get their weapons. The next thing he knew was the feeling of electricity entering his body and he collapsed to the ground unconscious.

Momentarily distracted by stunning the guard, the man on top of the Paedagogi did not notice when his enemy had managed to free one of his hands and swing his fist wildly at him. Reeling backwards from the force of the man's punch he lost his hold on him.

The two looked up in unison when the other two guards fired their weapons at them. Both missed wildly, but it was enough to make the two scramble to their feet and make a run for it. The Paedagogi ran towards them and tackled the male guard, fighting him to get his weapon. The man with the dark hair stood there for a moment swaying on his feet. He didn't look as if he were faring too well. Shaking his head to stay focused he ran towards a window, firing at it to knock the glass out. Looking out of it into the dimly lit area he saw below him a narrow walkway separating the building from a river several meters below. He leapt out landing awkwardly, his upper half had been caught by the safety railing of the walkway. Winded, he staggered only to trip over his own feet and lost his balance completely.

Sylva reached the window and looked out of it in time to see the man tumble over the railing and splash into the cold water of the river. Sighing she looked back and saw that the other man was leaving the building, leaving both her friends out cold on the floor. From the utter failure in the way they handled the situation she doubted this incident would reach the high command. She certainly wasn't going to put this in her report.

* * *

The water was frighteningly cold, however it did serve to bring back what little lucidity he had left. Lt Colonel John Sheppard broke the surface of the river gasping for air. He had no idea where he was, or why he was struggling to swim in a river at the moment. However it was not time to ponder over something like that. Coughing, trying to clear his lungs of moisture he started to swim towards what he presumed was the river bank. 

It was hard going, the current was swift and the river very wide, he was carried a long way down the river. The cold was also starting to slow him down and he was becoming sluggish. He almost couldn't feel when his foot came into contact with a cement stair that lead up to a darkened pier. Breathing hard from his exertion and fighting to stay awake he dragged himself up the steps and flopped onto his back.

He was in what seemed to be an industrialized area. The river had cement walkways running next to it, with occasional stairs leading down to the water. After catching his breath and regaining some feeling in his legs Sheppard staggered to his feet. His head was killing him and it disturbed him slightly that he did not have any memory of what happened prior to him ending up in the river.

"Hey, you ok?" A ragged man wearing a cheap filthy coat came out of a darkened alley. Sheppard nodded but leaned back when the man's smell drifted towards him.

"Yeah, just a little soggy."

"Ok man. You wanna drink?" He offered a bottle that looked like it had once contained motor oil.

Sheppard shook his head wincing as it made his headache worse and his vision swim. "No thanks." He shivered, the air was not much warmer than the river had been. "Hey, do you know someplace that I could warm up?"

"Yeah," the man made no effort to show him.

Staring at him for a moment Sheppard waited for him to make a move. "Ok, are you going to show me where it is?"

"Yeah." The man shuffled off into the alley.

Following him Sheppard heard the man begin to mutter to himself. There was something not quite right about him. Clearly he was homeless, but he didn't seem very sane either. The Colonel began to worry for his safety, his gun had been lost, and he didn't have any other weapon on him, not to mention he felt terrible. He relaxed a bit when they arrived at a small fire with several other men wearing equally dirty clothing around it.

Ignoring the putrid fumes from whatever they were burning Sheppard crept closer to the warmth. "So, uh, you come here often?" he asked casually. It was becoming harder to think straight and his headache was getting worse.

They looked at him strangely and whispered to each other. "Yeah," said the man who had led him here. "Hey, let me put on your shoes."

"Pardon?"

"Your shoes. They're nice lookin'."

Sheppard backed away, the man was crazy, "Sorry, I'm using them right now."

The man's face twitched, "Give me your shoes." Rage blossomed on his face and he dove at the Colonel.

* * *

It was the sun that woke him. Casting long shadows into the alley it had risen slowly showing that the alley was now empty. Sheppard groaned, he couldn't recall anything that had happened, presuming something had. He didn't know where he was, or why he was dressed in smelly dirty old clothes. His head was killing him and spots were floating in his field of vision. Using the wall for support he slowly stood. Looking down at his feet he had to squint to focus on a metallic object on a chain. He picked it up. They looked like military dog tags, he didn't know how he remembered what they were, he just knew. He racked his brain trying to figure out what it said on the tags, but the writing didn't look familiar. At a loss he shrugged and tossed them back on the ground. 

Still confused he wandered out onto the street. Early morning commuters walked by him as if he were invisible and judging by the way he smelled they were probably wishing that he didn't exist at all. The district did not seem to be very reputable. There was garbage littering the walkways and stores that required you to be a certain age to enter. Across the street a bouncer was tossing a final customer out of a bar. Cautiously crossing the street he wondered if he could get some information from the bouncer. The inebriated individual that had been tossed out of the bar stumbled into him before he had a chance to speak with the bouncer.

"Hey! Watch wher yous goin'!" slurred the man. He swung at Sheppard who ducked easily. The motion however aggravated his already excruciating headache. Doubled over in pain he fell to his knees.

"Are you alright?" the deep voice was that of the bouncer. When the man on the pavement didn't answer he knelt down next to him putting a hand on his shoulder. As bouncers go, this one was unnaturally philanthropic, and he tried to help the homeless guys out when he had a chance. "Do you need some help?"

Sheppard could barely nod, but he managed to get his point across, he was barely holding onto consciousness. He felt himself getting hauled into the back of a vehicle before he lost his tentative grasp of awareness completely.


	2. Dazed and Confused

**_A/N: _**_Thank you for the kind reviews, Ben and Jerry's for everyone! I was a bit nervous about such a clich_é_d theme, but hopefully the story's not too forgettable (pun intended)._

_The story may be a bit slow at times, but it's more of a mystery in most places than an action, so please bear with me. Although there's going to be plenty of action! It'll just be near the end of the story._

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**Chapter Two: Dazed and Confused **

Ronon and Teyla emerged from the Stargate supporting a delirious Rodney McKay between them.

"My God, what happened?" asked Dr Weir, horrified by the states they were in. She relieved Teyla of Rodney and motioned for Major Lorne to take the other side of the doctor.

Teyla limped after them as they headed to the infirmary. "We walked into an already ongoing conflict." She drew in a sharp breath as she clutched at her side. Ronon, clenching his teeth together ignoring his pain slowed his pace and helped support her.

"They managed to capture us. Teyla and I were interrogated; I don't know what they did to Rodney or Sheppard." Inside the infirmary he helped Teyla up onto a bed and with a grimace from the movement sat down next to her.

"What happened?" asked Dr Beckett. He already had his pen light out and was flashing it in Rodney's eyes. Rodney pulled back from the light almost violently and began to talk nonsensically.

Dr Weir and Lorne helped settle the babbling man onto a bed before replying, "We're not sure. They came through the gate like this."

"Bloody Hell, he's a mess," the Scotsman muttered and the other two were not much better at first glance either. He motioned for two nurses to help Ronon and Teyla before turning back to Rodney.

"The light," whispered the physicist. He closed his eyes and clutched at his head with his hands balled into fists. "Just kill me now. Get it to stop."

"Turn down the lights please," said Carson. He firmly but gently pulled the man's hands away from his head. "Just relax lad. Can you tell me what happened?"

"What happened?" Rodney repeated the question, confusion painted clearly on his face. "Nothing happened," he moaned and tried to roll away from the doctor, "just stop it!"

The nurse who was trying to give him an IV motioned for Beckett to look at something she had found, "Doctor, there's a track mark on his arm." She held his arm straight so the mark could be seen.

"Alright, a complete blood workup is warranted then, have the lab rush it please." Carson motioned for Major Lorne to help him strap down the now struggling McKay. "Rodney, please be still, it will make it harder for us to help you."

McKay's body sagged and was still except for his rapid breathing.

* * *

"How is Rodney?" Teyla was on crutches, her knee in a brace.

Dr Weir diverted her attention to the young woman. "They're still trying to figure out why he is so disoriented." She looked down at Teyla's leg, "How're you doing?"

"I am alright. The nurse said that Dr Beckett would like to look at my knee later, she said something about a possible tear?"

Nodding Dr Weir motioned for Teyla to sit, "You shouldn't be on your feet then." She helped her hobble to a chair next to a bed. "Where's Ronon?"

Teyla gestured towards a curtained off area. "He is getting stitches for the gash on his face. I think he also broke some ribs, but that is it." She sighed, exhaustion draining the color from her face. "I wish I knew more about what happened out there."

"Don't worry, we'll get to the bottom of this." Elizabeth put a reassuring hand on Teyla's arm.

A guilty look consumed Teyla's face, "I do not know what happened to Colonel Sheppard. He was not anywhere when we searched for him. We found Rodney in a warehouse near the stargate. All of his guards had been killed, and there were signs of a fight, but he was not there."

" Elizabeth?" They both looked up to see Carson.

"Did you find anything Carson?"

He pursed his lips together grimly. "Aye. But there's not much I can do unfortunately." He sighed and sat down. "Rodney, physically, is only mildly injured. No broken bones or internal damage, a few abrasions but that is it. The reason he was so distraught when you brought him in here was because he was in excruciating pain."

"What was causing it?" asked Dr Weir.

"He had something akin to a migraine," replied Carson with a shake of his head. "We don't know exactly what was causing it, but I am presuming it was caused by whatever he had been injected with. He's describing some disturbing symptoms, including some retrograde amnesia. More specifically biographical amnesia."

"Biographical amnesia?"

"Aye, it's very uncommon, pretty much unheard of. It's a popular theme in movies and television though. The afflicted will loose all awareness of who they are and any knowledge of their pasts."

Dr Weir let the information sink into for a moment. "And you think that whatever was injected into Rodney is causing this too?"

"Aye. A toxicological screening did not uncover anything abnormal in his blood besides an excess of adrenaline, but that is, in part, due to the stress he is experiencing right now. However, there's no telling how long ago he had initially been injected. For all we know his body has already broken the substance down." He continued, "The next step is to get him comfortable and run more tests to see if we cannot discover what happened."

She nodded. "Good job Carson. I'm glad you've got this under control." Standing up she sighed and pursed her lips together, "I need to organize a team to go back to the planet to try and do some forensic work. Let me know if anything changes."

* * *

Major Lorne, anticipating Dr Weir's request for an investigation had a heavily armed team ready in the gate room. She stood there surprised for a moment before a grateful smile appeared on lips.

"I'm glad I can count on you Major," she said.

He returned the smile, "No problem Ma'am. I'm as eager as you are to get Colonel Sheppard back. There's no way I want to run this place."

His lighthearted joke seemed to raise her spirits a bit. "Thank you Major, proceed with the mission. Keep me apprised of anything you find." She paused and caught his eye, "And be careful."


	3. Government Issue Name

**_A/N:_**_ Thank you again for the comments, they're what keep me going! I think Sheppard may need to get comfy where he is, I don't think I'm going to make it too easy for them to find him. LOL. _

_Ok, now things get interesting.   
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Chapter Three: Government Issue Name **

The trauma ward waiting room was crowded with sick and injured people. The bouncer had let a nurse know what had happened and they loaded the unconscious Sheppard into something akin to a wheelchair. She had a brief exam done to make sure he was not in critical condition. Then the bouncer left and the unconscious Colonel remained tucked away a corner of the waiting room. It was not until several hours later the nurse returned and brought him back for treatment.

"Do a blood alcohol test, I will scan for his marker so we can discover the identity of this individual," said the doctor who had gotten the case. "It is strange, there is very little physical trauma."

"Doctor," said the nurse. She showed him the track mark she had discovered when looking for a vein to draw blood from. "Shall I add a toxin analysis as well?"

The doctor nodded. He was holding a small device in his hand and was moving it over Sheppard's body. "Damn," muttered the doctor as he attempted the scan a second time. "I am not getting a marker coming up. I think he is an unknown. Ad a genetic makeup to the tests as well."

Nodding the nurse took her papers and blood samples and left for the laboratory. The doctor remained and stared at the unconscious man for a moment. Then he left, pulling the curtains shut around the bed.

* * *

"Dr Johannes?" a nervous technician stood at the door of the geneticist's office. 

"What is it?" he said, annoyed.

The technician placed a readout on his desk. "Sir, you need to see this."

Sighing and turning away from his computer screen he picked up the paper. After a moment of reading he looked over the sheet with a raised eyebrow at the technician. "Have them admit this man immediately. Also let Dr Kazia Nuar know she may have a new patient."

Nodding the technician ran off to do as he was told.

Dr Johannes stared at the results. He prayed that this was an error with the test. Otherwise, when the government was informed of his existence life was going to get very interesting for the patient.

* * *

Sheppard woke up and again wondered where he was. He remembered vaguely being in the backseat of a car, but that was the extent of his memories. 

"Feeling better?" asked a woman who sat next to the bed with her legs crossed. She was wearing a lab coat and had a chart on her lap, so he assumed she was a doctor.

"Better than what?"

She smiled warmly at him, "You were brought in to the trauma ward experiencing terrible pain in your head. We've successfully treated the problem so you should no longer be in any pain."

He sighed, "Sorry, my memory just isn't what it used to be."

Dr Kazia Nuar raised her eyebrow at the joke, "You have got quite the sense of humor. In all seriousness, what can you remember? We suspect there to be some memory loss, but we need to know the extent of it."

"Ok, I remember bits and pieces of my trip to the hospital. Before that I have zilch."

"Do you remember your name?"

"Nope."

"What the date is?"

He shook his head.

"How did you get that scar on your neck?" She pointed to a scar that was about one inch in diameter on the right side of his neck.

Reaching up to feel it he said, "Still drawing a blank, but something tells me that I should be glad that I can't recall that one."

"Where are you from?"

"Again, nothing comes to mind here."

She was quiet for a moment as she scribbled something down on the chart in her lap. Then she pulled something out of the pocket of her lab coat and handed to him.

"What's this?"

"Can you tell me?"

Sheppard turned it over in his hands, tracing it's shape with his thumb. It's screen was blank. He wondered what it was supposed to do. As if it were responding to his thoughts the screen flickered on. Displayed on it was the layout of the immediate area around him. There were two dots that he assumed were himself and the doctor. Outside of the room were two more dots and another far down the hallway heading down the hall.

Kazia smiled and took it from him, it deactivated the moment it left his hands. "Very good."

"What is that thing?"

"This device just confirms that you are a very special person."

Looking smug he said, "Well I already _knew_ that."

There was a knock at the door and they both looked up. In the doorway was a tall lanky man. The man looked sinister dressed in a dark knee length coat and wearing a full brimmed hat that cast shadows on his face. "Dr Nuar," he said with a nod of his head.

"Officer Henryk," she said, obviously pleased to see the man. "I am so glad you were able to make it."

"Is this the subject?" he took off his hat and hung it on the corner of the bed. He did not wait for an answer, "I am your social officer. We shall take care of all the legal matters first then we will concern ourselves with what to do with you." Plopping a briefcase next to Sheppard's feet he opened it and took out a stack of papers.

Sheppard was at a loss. The man was seriously creeping him out and he didn't know how to respond to him. Moreover, he didn't appreciate being referred to as a subject. Dr Nuar seemed satisfied with the situation and after saying goodbye, she left the two alone.

Henryk narrowed his eyes at Sheppard and stared at him for a moment. "You need a name first of all. I have chosen Jan Enderson for you."

"Ok…" said Sheppard uncertainly. "I'm glad we've gotten that over with."

"Now there is the matter of you not having a genetic marker. Usually this offense is punishable by several years in a labor camp, however if you agree to work with us we can make other… arrangements."

Again Sheppard really didn't know how to respond. Henryk didn't seem to need his input anyways. "I guess I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

"No you do not," replied Henryk. "You are a ward of the state at the moment, and this is what the state wants. It is a shame that you have no memory." He cleared his throat and pulled something out of his briefcase, "Now we need to determine aptitude and intelligence. This will test your cognitive patterns and determine how you think and the best role for you. I am hoping that it will pick up on any residual thoughts about your previous occupation. It is intuitive so the pictures you see will be guided by what it finds."

Sheppard was handed the device which looked like a pair of sunglasses. He put them on and was surprised to see an image displayed of a very nice looking woman. There was a slight tingling around his temples but as the images flashed before his eyes he forgot about it.

At first all the images were pleasant, and he got several seconds to look at them. Then as they began to flash by faster they slowly took a darker turn. War images were shown, pictures of riots, angry faces and many others flashed by quickly. It was when the pictures of grisly deaths appeared his head began to ache and his eyes were difficult to focus.

Henryk removed the glasses. Blinking his eyes he tried to clear them of the after image of the picture he was shown last. "That was intense."

"The subject matter of the pictures are chosen to stimulate areas that the machine detects activity in, so depending on whatever it was picking up on those were the pictures you were shown, it is quite good at determining what skills you may retain." Henryk pulled a small chip out of the glasses and put them into a reader he pulled out of his briefcase.

"So, what am I going to be when I grow up?" He was slightly worried. After the disturbing images he had been shown he was concerned that he may have been some kind of murderer.

The man ignored him while he read the readout. After a moment he smiled for a fraction of a second and looked up at him. "Jan, you are going to fit in very well I believe. Yes, very well."

"Come on, the suspense is killing me. What were the results?"

"You should be pleased to hear that your intelligence quotient is quite high. High enough to have allowed you entrance into any of the state vocational schools here. However, I believe that we can best utilize your skills by placing you in a role with our defense department."

It was Sheppard's turn to narrow his eyes at Henryk. Something was not quite right about this. What government would take someone with amnesia and put him to work for them? That would be like handing a gun to someone who was suicidal. "Why? I mean, I don't remember a thing about what I did before all this. What happens if I was a spy? Or maybe I wasn't all that good at what I did anyways."

Henryk seemed to have anticipated this question. "Firstly there are precedents with this type of situation. Second, because this is a time of war which sometimes calls for desperate measures. You possess a genetic anomaly which allows you the ability to control technology only our enemy can."

"Wait a second, doesn't that make me your enemy? If I have the same genes as them, how do you know that I'm not one? And what do you mean _precedents_?"

"Ah, and that is the question that wins the prize. I said a genetic _anomaly_, meaning that you are not supposed to have it. Every so often we find someone who does have this addition to their genetic profile, it does not mean their parents did or that they are our enemy merely that they have a recessive genetic trait that has been activated. As for precedents," he paused, weighing his next words very carefully, "We have had a few situations arise that concerned memory or lack thereof. The policies that were set after those events are what we are following now."

"I guess I'll just take your word for it then." Sheppard was still skeptical with the whole thing, but he didn't have much choice.

Henryk checked the watch on his wrist, "Ah, I must contact the family that will play host to you. I will see you again when they come to get you." He nodded his head goodbye and left.

Outside of the room he met up with Kazia. "Did he accept your explanations?"

"He did," said Henryk. "How much time do you think he has?"

Kazia did the math in her head before replying. "Roughly three months. In about ten weeks we will begin to see the deterioration that was typical of all the other subjects." She smiled grimly, "But then he is not like our other subjects so I cannot be certain. There is a slim chance he may live through this."


	4. Czech in Charge

**_A/N: _**_I am going to try to get a post up at least every other day. I'm still finishing up the story and proof reading it before I post. Sorry about the cliff hanger! _**  
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Chapter Four: Czech in Charge **

Rodney stared blankly at the ceiling of the infirmary. He had been examined and re-examined over the past week. A steady stream of people seemed to trickle by to see how he was doing. He did not recognize anyone and he just wanted to be left alone to wallow in his own misery.

"And we have managed to get two percent more power output from the ZPM with these modifications," droned the scruffy looking scientist that had to keep pushing his glasses up on his nose. Rodney had tuned out most of what he had said, he had trouble following the accent anyways.

"Um, great."

"Rodney, it is strange to see you not talking. Most days you will not stop." He paused, "This is a good change I think."

The scientist rolled over in the bed and looked at the man with narrowed eyes. It seemed that he was waiting for a retort of some sort. "Look, who ever you are…"

"Radek," he supplied.

"Yeah, whatever. _Radek,_ I really don't care about a Zed-PM at the moment, much less a measly two percent power increase. I have more pressing matters at hand, like trying to remember who the hell I am." The frustration was clear through the strain in his voice.

"Your pleasant personality has survived unchanged," said Elizabeth as she pulled back the curtain that isolated Rodney from the rest of the infirmary.

Radek snickered earning a glare from McKay.

"I see Dr Zelenka is keeping you company," she smiled at the annoyed look Rodney had. "I wanted to be the one to tell you that I just spoke with Dr Beckett. It took some convincing, as he wanted to keep you here until he could figure out what was causing your amnesia, however you've suffered enough for now. Physically you're fine, so unless you want to, you're free to go back to your own quarters."

"Wonderful. Now if I knew where my quarters were, this might be welcome news." He tried to sound sarcastic, but in reality, he was terrified of leaving the only place he had become familiar with.

Radek looked over at Rodney. "If it is ok with you, I can…" he paused searching for the right term, "show you the ropes."

Rodney opened his mouth to protest, but Dr Weir cut in, "That's a great idea Radek. You could probably show him the lab too and see if that triggers any memories."

Pressing his lips into a thin line he glared at both of them, just for the sake of glaring.

* * *

It was weird to look at pictures of himself with people and not remember who they were or when the photos had been taken. He moved from photo to photo examining each, and desperately racking his brain for any inkling of a memory. He sighed still frustrated from his lack of success and turned to Radek who was standing in the middle of the room watching him. "So, I was told I work as a physicist here?" 

"Yes, one of the best."

"Huh. What did I actually do?"

Radek had a dangerous glint in his eye. He knew that taking advantage of the man while he was like this was low, but every memory of every name Rodney had called him came back and the temptation was too great. Besides, if the amnesia was permanent the lie would become the truth. "You are my second in command."

"Really?" Rodney sounded skeptical. "You just don't seem like someone who would be in charge of something like this."

The Czech frowned, even without a memory the man was still insulting. "I cannot help it if I'm a better scientist than you." He shrugged apologetically.

Still not convinced, but not having enough information on the matter to argue, Rodney just shrugged. "Whatever." Changing the subject he rubbed his hands together and said, "So, are you going to show me to my lab?"

"_Our_ lab," Radek corrected. "If you will come with me I will show you."

* * *

"There wasn't much left for us to find," stated Major Lorne. He had spent a week on the planet where Rodney had lost his memory and they had lost Colonel Sheppard. "The entire population of the village had been decimated." 

Elizabeth nodded, she was told as such in the message he had radioed back in the first few hours of his investigation. Now Lorne's team, including Ronon and Dr Biro, were seating in the briefing room bringing her up to speed on the situation. "Did you find anything that may indicate where Colonel Sheppard is?"

Lorne shook his head, "We didn't find a body, so there is a good chance he isn't dead. What we did find may explain what happened to Dr McKay."

"The building where Teyla and I found Rodney in was also some kind of lab." Despite Ronon's broken ribs and bruises, and the protests of Dr Beckett, he had insisted on joining the investigation. "It was hard to tell. It looked like after we left someone came back and tried to destroy most of it."

"Was there any indication of what was going on in that lab?"

"Dr Biro would probably be the best one to field that question," Lorne motioned to the short woman who had been unusually quiet.

"Well, it was more than a lab, really. More like a research complex by the look of things." The pathologist seemed impressed by the structure they had found and began to speak with fervor, "The building seemed to be made up of several containment rooms, which is where Dr McKay was found, a positive pressure laboratory, a disturbingly extensive morgue and various other offices and rooms for security."

Elizabeth nodded, "So it would seem that the people using the building had a good grasp of technology."

"Not a good grasp, an _excellent_ grasp. Medically more advanced than we are, at least in the areas of genetic manipulation, and that's what I'm assuming most of the equipment there was used for." Pausing for a moment she stared off into space as if double checking her words. "We found a few bodies in the morgue that hadn't been touched, so I did perform an autopsy on them."

"What did they die from?"

"We're still running some tests, but right now I think that there was an abnormality in their brain. We found significant amounts of scar tissue in very specific areas in the temporal lobe as well as on the hippocampus. Damage to both those areas can cause permanent memory loss."

"But that won't kill someone in itself, right?"

Dr Biro shook her head, "No. But what caused the scar tissue might. It is highly indicative that these individuals suffered from some kind of seizures. From the damage I would guess they were a type of focal seizures, meaning they only affected a small area and there may not have been any physical manifestations."

Elizabeth shook her head in disbelief, "So it's possible then, that these individuals were experimenting with seizures and memory loss? Could this be what's affecting Dr McKay?"

"I believe so. At least from what we could discern from what wasn't destroyed. There could have been something being researched there that is much more malicious than just destroying someone's memory."

Major Lorne spoke up, "We think that the village was a testing ground for whoever was conducting this research. There was also some evidence indicating that they just recently developed this settlement too. And judging by what little personal effects they had, my money is on it being some kind of refugee camp or a penal colony."

"So we are looking for a planet that these people either ran from or were forced to leave," stated Ronon. "I think I know a few planets we can check out and see if anyone knows anything about this."

Looking at Major Lorne, Elizabeth said, "At least it's something."

* * *

Rodney rubbed his burning eyes, he was getting a headache and was desperately trying to ignore it. He had finally found something he remembered and he wasn't about to call it a night because of a little headache. 

"Rodney, maybe you should go to sleep?" said Radek from the other side of the lab. He looked worried.

"No, I'm fine," he said stifling a yawn. "These equations seem to be the only thing I can do right at the moment. I don't have a clue what they're suppose to be for, but they're making a lot of sense to me."

"Fine. Maybe you can take break and come help me?" Dr Zelenka was holding a tiny device in his hands, it looked as if it were dead. "A few weeks ago, you could turn this on. I have made modifications to it and I need to test it now."

Holding out his hand Rodney grabbed the device. Almost as if on cue a panel on it lit up. "So what's it supposed to do?"

"I don't know," said Radek, he looked over at the device's screen and began to make several notes on his computer.

Suddenly a stabbing pain shot through Rodney's head. He yelled out in pain and grabbed his head, dropping the device. Deftly Radek caught it midair and set it on the countertop.

"Rodney, are you ok?"

It took him a moment, but the pain seemed to pass. He straightened up and said, "Yeah, I think so. Stupid headache." Snapping his fingers at Zelenka, "Give it back."

"Do not drop it again," warned the scientist.

Taking the device back Rodney held it like he had before expecting it to turn on. It flickered slightly but then stayed dark. "Ok, I know I didn't break it." He concentrated on it harder. Zelenka had explained to him how the ATA gene worked, so thinking about turning on the device should have turned it on. Instead the stabbing pain returned, this time it was so great that he fell over. The last thing he heard was Zelenka radioing Dr Beckett to the lab.


	5. Top of the Class

**_A/N: _**_Because I am in such an amazingly happy mood, I'm posting this early. However I need to share my news with you all, as I know you all will appreciated. I GET TO MEET JOE FLANIGAN! (fangirl moment)_

_Ok, I'm done hyperventilating. This will be in April at a local event. My friend helps run the panels so I am probably going to be able to actually get some personal time with him. I have no idea what I will talk about. Same thing happened with Michael Shanks. I froze up when I met him. Although he still called me sweetie ._

_I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I feel something is missing in it, maybe you all can help me figure out what that is. _

**

* * *

Chapter Five: Top of the Class or Smart Ass?**

Lazily Sheppard scribbled on his note paper. The last week had been a whirlwind of activity. He had gone from a nameless man in a hospital to an embarrassed man learning basic reading and writing skills to a sworn in officer of the Paedagogi military. At first he had not been sure about cooperating, much of what they were telling him he was skeptical about, however the military just felt so _right_ to him that he eventually agreed.

He knew they still didn't trust him despite what they said. There was always someone there to watch him and keep him from getting into trouble. Not that he didn't try. Two days after he had been released from the hospital he made an attempt to take a walk outside of the military compound he was living in. It took them five minutes to track him down and haul him back. He was making it his mission to covertly escape at night and explore the city. They hadn't caught him since that first time.

"Officer Enderson," barked the stiff-backed man that had been lecturing the class.

It took a moment for Sheppard to realize he meant him. "Yes sir?"

"Please give us your opinion on why this cold war started." The professor had been attempting to teach him the history of their planet and the state of current events. Paying attention only partly he was hoping he could bluff his way through the answer.

"The Agnascor have been our enemy for hundreds of years. Only recently have there been peace talks between us. But because they believe they are genetically superior to us and manufacture everyday items and equipment that can only be used by those with similar DNA they are making it difficult to reconcile our differences." He glanced down at his paper that he had read off of hoping that would be sufficient. After that point was when he had completely tuned out the professor.

The man didn't buy it. "I asked for your opinion why it started. Not why the book says it did, nor why it has not been resolved as of yet." He smirked, "Being brain damaged does not excuse you from my class."

Sheppard heard the other cadets in the room chuckle at the way he was being singled out. "Ok, this is what I think happened." The room grew quiet, they had all come to expect smart ass answers from him fairly early on in the class. "We've been fighting this war for hundreds of years, and what for? To try and get the land on the other side of the river? Sure, we make up excuses trying to justify what we're doing, supposedly we're the victims, and the Agnascor are ruthless elitists. They will stop at nothing until the genetically impure are wiped out. It doesn't matter that essentially we're the same. So who cares if they have more interesting gadgets on that side of the river?"

He pointed his finger at the professor, "I think someone wizened up to all this and decided enough was enough. Intellectually both sides are equal, we both have the same ancestors, and we're both extremely petty. So whom ever was in charge of their respective nations probably got together over some drinks, got a little tipsy and said 'what the hell, let's stop killing each other and just have a cold war instead'." He shrugged, "Either that, or the it doesn't exist at all, and there's some elaborate conspiracy perpetuating this lie."

The professor raised his eyebrow. "Very interesting theory officer. I give you full marks for thinking in a less than linear fashion."

Sheppard let him drone on again. For some reason the name Fox Mulder had popped into his head along with the prospect of a conspiracy theory. The thought was fleeting however, and it faded as quickly as it had come.

* * *

"Wherever he was trained previous to this they did an excellent job," said Marshall Kezk. He ran the military training facility. 

An elderly woman, with cold calculating eyes studied the photograph of the subject on her desk. "Just how well is he doing?"

Colonel Rafal, the officer whose family had been chosen to host the subject during his training spoke. "His ability to grasp military concepts ranging from the most simple to the most complex is astounding. Had he been a part of this military under any other circumstances he would have been a very valuable asset."

The older woman nodded then turned next to Dr Nuar, the physician who had been on duty when the subject had been her patient. "When did you last evaluate him?"

"Yesterday afternoon. He is in prime health, except for the memory loss. Mentally he is stable and is showing no signs of any deterioration."

"When can we expect to see that change?"

"I have estimated, at the original onset of his symptoms it would be approximately ten weeks. So at this point, nine weeks. At twelve weeks total brain death typically occurs, however this one may surprise us."

"Surprise us in a good way I hope?"

Nuar smiled, "Of course Minister Aangd. What I mean to say is that his brain may have enough plasticity to adapt to the changes and survive longer."

"When will he be ready to deploy?"

Kezk said, "Four weeks from now. Do you agree Rafal?"

The Colonel nodded. "Perhaps sooner. The man is very adaptive and it seems our training is serving more to just reintroduce him to certain concepts instead of teach him from the beginning."

The group stood as the Minister rose to leave the room. "If anything changes I am to be notified immediately. He needs to be ready as soon as possible so that he had enough time to complete his task before he is no longer capable."

"Yes Minister," said Col Rafal. They watched her leave.

"Colonel," said Dr Nuar, trying to catch the man before he left. She waited until Kezk had exited the room before continuing, "I fear that one of my research sites may have been compromised."

"Are you certain? You know how hard communicating with them is at this point."

She nodded, "I know, but my lead was discovered dead in Agnascor territory. He should not have even been on this planet. I fear the worst."

Rafal's face paled, "This could spell disaster if they are aware of the project."

"That is why I told you. You can check to see if they suspect anything."

He frowned, "I will have their communications monitored for any mention of this. In the mean time, do not tell anyone. Your lead never existed, understand?"

"Yes sir."

"Good girl. Now, Apollonia is making quite the feast tonight, come over and we can see how our newest officer is doing."


	6. In the Infirmary

**A/N: **_And here is the next post for you all!_

_I would like to thank all of you who gave me some tips on approaching Joe when I meet him. Hopefully I don't make a fool out of myself in April._

_This next post has a lot of Rodney in it. I tried to make most of the technical talk as clear as possible. (Except for one part, that was done purposfully)._

_Enjoy! _

**

* * *

Chapter Six: In the Infirmary  
**

Dr Beckett was still trying to figure out what could have caused the results of the test he had run on Rodney. He threw up his hands, exasperated with the little progress he was making.

"Carson," said Dr Biro startling the frustrated doctor. She laughed at the way he jumped, "Sorry. I thought you'd like to know I found something interesting." Not pausing for his reply she continued, "I've been examining all the data from those autopsies I performed. There's been one similarity that has come up between them all."

"What similarity?" he was curious as to what she found.

"The ATA gene."

His eyes lit up, it was starting to make more sense. "Of course." Using his legs to propel his desk chair, his rolled over to where his microscope was set up. "Tell me, what's the difference between Rodney's ATA gene and the gene those cadavers have?" he hit a few buttons on the laptop next to the scope and a computer generated image of Rodney's gene appeared.

"Uh, Rodney's isn't native to his system?"

"Exactly! We had to force several base substitutions in order to integrate the ATA gene. Whatever was introduced into Rodney's system caused the gene to detach and become instable due to depurination. Since Rodney's body isn't naturally programmed to repair the damage done to the sequence the gene was effectively shut off. The N-glycosidic bonds must not have been resilient enough or the chemical he was exposed to was specifically made to target the ATA gene." He indicated to several spots on the gene displayed on the computer.

Dr Biro nodded in agreement, "Whatever they were exposed to may have been engineered to add on an additional function to the gene. That would account for the abnormal electrical activity that would cause the seizures which in turn created the scar tissue."

"Aye. However a chemical wouldn't target such specific areas of the brain. It would have to be another type of delivery method."

She chewed on her lip and stared at the ground. After a moment she said, "I think I've got a hunch. I need to prepare some slides."

Dr Beckett watched her rush off before turning back to his own work. He was only undisturbed for a minute or two until a nurse approached him.

"Dr Beckett," she said, "Dr McKay is waking up."

"Thank you," he said. The doctor grabbed Rodney's chart before heading over to his friend.

Rodney's head ached. There was a single point that felt like a spike had been driven into it. He opened his eye a crack when he heard someone approach.

"Hello Rodney, how'd you feel?" said Beckett as he sat down on a chair next to the bed.

"Like hell," he groaned. "Whatever you voodoo witch doctors are doing to fix me isn't working. How long have I been out?"

"Four days," said Carson. "Can you tell me what you remember?"

Dr McKay sighed, "Figures you'd ask me that. Bits and pieces, I guess, getting captured on that planet, being brought here and… Zelenka." His eyes narrowed at the mention of his fellow scientist. The pitch of his voice rose slightly, "That Czech bastard tried to convince me he was the smarter one and to add insult to injury he claimed to be in charge of the science operations on Atlantis." His facial expression, flushed with anger was short lived. A hand strayed to his temple revealing the pain he was still in and a miserable look came over him. He pulled the sheets up over his eyes and moaned, "Now just dope me up and let me die."

Obliging him, Carson gave him a liberal dose of pain medication before leaving him be.

* * *

Major Lorne and his team had returned to Atlantis looking worn down and disparaged. "We've interviewed hundreds of people on ten worlds in five days. None of them have heard of that village or of any refugees." 

"As long as they were telling the truth," added Ronon.

Elizabeth paced around her office, "Yesterday Dr McKay woke up. He's doing fine, but more importantly he remembers what happened, to a point."

"To a point?"

She nodded, "He is still having a lot of trouble recalling personal information and some recent events."

"Did he give you any idea of where Colonel Sheppard could be?" Lorne asked.

"I believe so. Right before they were captured Rodney and Sheppard had witnessed them dialing another address."

"That's the best news I've heard all day," said Lorne with a grin.

Elizabeth agreed with him. "Give your team a rest, it looks like you need it. Then at 1100 hours tomorrow you can head out and continue your investigation."

Ronon and Lorne looked relieved, they hadn't said it out loud but they were on the brink of exhaustion.

* * *

"I'm telling you I feel fine," said an agitated Dr McKay. He was attempting to pull off the EEG sensors that had been glued onto his scalp. 

"Rodney, please calm down! You've barely been out of bed for twelve hours. Stop trying to be so difficult," urged Beckett. He used his body to block the scientist from escaping the infirmary.

" Carson, as much as I appreciate your concern, I am fine!" He tried to skirt around the doctor but was unsuccessful.

"Son, there's considerable scar tissue that's formed in your brain. This is what's inhibiting you from a full recovery. And before we can try to restore the ATA gene I need you completely healthy." The physician glared at Rodney who, despite his reassurances, was still suffering from headaches and was irked that his ATA gene had been deactivated.

They stared each other down for what seemed ages before a deliberate cough interrupted them.

"Dr Biro, what may I do for you?" Carson turned his attention to the pathologist, however when Rodney tried to use the opportunity to slip by again he grabbed a handful of the scrubs McKay was wearing and held on. "Oh no, you don't Rodney."

"I have those slides ready I had talked to you about the other day." She smirked at Rodney who was leaning at an odd angle trying to get away from the doctor. "There is definitely something you should…" she stopped when Rodney had the brilliant idea to slip out of his shirt and dart out of the infirmary. The man was desperate to get away. "Whoops. Should have held onto his pants."

Carson sighed and tossed the scrub top sans McKay into a hamper reserved for used clothing. "Heavens no, he would've taken those off too." He shook his head sadly but didn't seem too worried, a shirtless McKay running around Atlantis would draw attention fast. A brave scientist or marine would more than likely attempt to bring the man back. "So what was it you wanted me to see?"

Biro handed him some slides. "You're gonna love these."

The two pulled up chairs around a microscope and examined the specimens.

"Is that what I think it is?" Carson looked up from the microscope, awe plainly on his face.

Dr Biro nodded, "Totally organic nanotechnology." She looked thrilled. "Do you see any resemblance to the virus we found last year?"

Beckett looked again and after adjusting the focus slightly, he shook his head in disbelief. "I bet if we biopsy Rodney's brain we'll find some of these buggers hiding in there."

"Now, do you really think that he'll let us do that?"

"Aye, you're right. He'd never let us tamper with his only asset."

Dr Biro laughed, "That's cruel. I'm sure he's got other qualities." She suddenly sobered, "I just thought of something. The EMP we used on the other virus won't work on this one. How do we neutralize active organic nanites?"


	7. Microwaving Rodney

**_A/N: _**_Here is a post for you all! Again, thank you for the wonderful encouraging reviews you all have been giving me. I'm starting to catch up to the point where I have not proofread and need to polish most of the posts more. So updates may be a bit more spaced out, but I promise I'll try to get them up as fast as possible!  
_

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* * *

**

**Chapter Seven: What happens when you put Rodney in a Microwave?  
**

Sheppard shielded his eyes from the bright headlights of the approaching vehicle. He had been standing in the middle of a cold damp and dark field for hours. When he walked, his feet squished inside of his boots from the moisture that had leaked in. He was finally relieved to see his contact arrive; these late night clandestine rendezvous' were not something he enjoyed.

He was proud of the fact his training had been finished a week earlier than expected. Now it was time for him to do what they wanted him to do, spy on the enemy. The prospect was a welcomed change, as he had gotten sick and tired of the training. It was boring! Plus, he knew he was probably one of the better soldiers they had ever seen. There had been no hiding the impressed looks of the officers in charge.

"Jan Enderson?" The voice drifted towards him over the sound of the vehicle's engine.

Sheppard walked to the passenger side of the vehicle and opened the door. "In the flesh."

The driver was a woman close to his own age, whatever that was. She smiled at his revealing perfect teeth. "It's a pleasure. Tara Illyrian." Reaching out she grabbed his bag and tossed it in the back seat. "Come on, hop in."

Sitting in silence most of the way Sheppard kept covertly glancing at the woman. He couldn't help but keep thinking about how hot she looked. She had dark brown hair, cut short and styled so that it accentuated the shape of her face. For a moment, the image of another woman with a similar haircut flashed into his mind, but the memory faded quickly.

"So, when are you going to stop staring at me?"

"Huh?" he was taken off guard by the question, having no idea she knew he had been checking her out.

With a grin she explained, "Oh come on. If I didn't know better I would say you're mentally undressing me."

"I was told to imagine people in their underwear if you are nervous. What's the reason _you_ keep looking at me?" He had noticed her covert glances over at him but was originally not going to mention it.

A flush rose on her cheeks but she frowned trying to hide it. "So, uh, how'd they coerce you into this mission?" The phrasing she used suggested that forcing people to do what they wanted was a normal thing for the Paedagogi.

He shrugged. "I wasn't doing much else at the time. Besides, it's kinda hard to say no when you're in a hospital bed with no idea what your own name is."

Horrified she looked over at him, "I'm so sorry! I had no idea."

"Hey! Keep your eyes on the road," he grabbed the steering wheel and they narrowly missed a fence post. "You want me to drive?"

"What? No! I'm fine."

"Just as well. I'd probably forget where I was going anyways." The look she gave him again was one of incredulity. "Hey, the road. Remember?"

Keeping her eyes glued straight ahead this time, she continued, "How can you joke about something like that?"

"I think it's a defense mechanism."

"Oh."

Silence descended once more upon the pair and they both fixed their eyes on the road and tried not to glance over at the other.

* * *

The investigation had come screeching to a halt. Teyla sighed in frustration as she relayed a message to Dr Weir. 

"These people do not wish to associate with us and I do not see how we can force them to give us the information we need."

Elizabeth echoed Teyla's earlier sigh. "Let Major Lorne know that I'll be coming through the gate. If Colonel Sheppard has lost his memory, Dr Beckett says the longer it takes to find him the less of a chance there is his memory will remain intact. We can't afford to lose him."

Nodding in consent Teyla terminated the connection a moment before the gate shut itself down. "Where is Major Lorne?" The young marine she spoke to pointed towards a tiny rundown village several hundred meters away from the gate.

"I believe he is still talking to someone in the village, Ma'am."

"Thank you," she smiled gratefully at the man before she trudged off to find the Major. Even though the village was just under a kilometer away, it was difficult to walk. The ground was muddy from the constant drizzle, seemingly the permanent forecast for the planet. "Major Lorne!" she called out as she entered the small settlement.

Lorne turned from where he had been talking with one of his team in a large covered area meant for the community. "Teyla, what's up?"

"I have just spoken with Dr Weir. She said that we need to find the Colonel as soon as possible. I believe she will be arriving shortly to head the discussions herself."

Nodding the Major still looked doubtful. "I know Dr Weir is great at all this diplomatic stuff, but something tells me, barring a miracle, they're not going to cooperate." He motioned to a small group of residents of the village who were whispering amongst themselves and scowling at every Lantean they saw.

"They come from a world that has had civil war for hundreds of years. It is not in their nature to be trusting of people other than their own," Teyla pointed out.

"And we're asking for the address to their home world, I guess I'd be a bit over protective of it too."

Ronon's voice crackled out of the radio, "Teyla, Major Lorne, we've found something."

"Potential lab like the one on the other planet?" Lorne had sent Ronon out with a team to check the area and make sure there was no hidden research lab here as well.

"Yup. Looks like they left in a rush too. But it's definitely from the same people who ran the first one."

"Is there any evidence Sheppard's been there?"

There was a pause, "No."

Both Teyla and Lorne in disappointment let out breaths they didn't realize they were holding.

* * *

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Rodney lay prone on the bed of a machine used for radiation therapy. He kept shooting Carson worried glances. 

For the tenth time that day Dr Beckett sighed in frustration. "Rodney, I'm not an oncologist, so I've not used this machine much, but I do know what I'm doing." Carson stood at a computer terminal fiddling with some settings. He was wearing a heavy lead coat.

"I still would've felt better if you'd let us build it here instead of waiting weeks for the Daedalus to bring it," sulked Rodney. "Linear accelerators are kid's stuff."

Rolling his eyes, Beckett covered Rodney with a lead jacket similar to the one he was using. "Aye, that may be true, but in this infirmary I have the final say. I wanted a machine built by people who've done this before, and one we know how to operate," he referred to the fact that despite the many Ancient gadgets that had been left in the infirmary, they still didn't know how to use most of them. "Honestly I'm surprised that you can't understand that."

"But still. It's built by _General Electric_." He emphasized the company's name to stress just how disgusted he was, "General Electric! I mean, come on, they make toasters!"

"And most medical diagnostic machines," the doctor pointed out. Carson began strapping Rodney down to the bed.

Testing his bonds the physicist couldn't help but continue complaining. "Is this really necessary?"

"If you don't want the working parts of your brain irradiated, yes. Moving even a few micrometers can cause permanent damage." Carson pulled off a long length of tape and began to secure Rodney's head. Stepping back to check his work he said, "Now comes the fun part."

"How is this going to be fun?"

Beckett flashed him an evil grin, "I get to microwave your brain. What's not fun about it?" Before Rodney could retort the doctor absconded out the door.

Dr Mary Kuhn, a medical physicist that had accompanied the machine, was seated at a computer. "I've finished my calculations. We should be able to begin as soon as we get Dr McKay positioned correctly." She smiled at Beckett and turned back to her work.

Carson sat in a chair next to her and watched as her fingers flew across the keyboard. Looking over at the display connected to the video camera in the room so that he could monitor the machine as it positioned their patient, he could see Rodney idly drumming his fingers, the only part of his body that could really move. The man had been shocked when one of the 'Voodoo Witch Doctors' had a doctorate in physics as well as an MD. When he had been introduced to, Dr Kuhn he'd merely shook her hand in a humbled silence.

"Ok, I think we're ready."

Nodding Dr Beckett keyed on a microphone. "Rodney, we're about to start. If you need something just give us a thumbs up." The gesture Rodney made with his finger was not what Carson had been expecting, but he knew it was only in jest, he hoped.

Kuhn pressed a key on the computer and carefully watched the levels of radiation. They had decided to treat the scar tissue like a tumor and just remove it, with any luck solving Rodney's persistent headaches and short-term memory problems. It was Beckett's hope that when they found the Colonel this treatment could be used to yield immediate results. That is, if they found him soon. If not he feared the damage might not be reversible.


	8. It was the Ninja's Fault

**_A/N: _**_First of all, I am so sorry it has taken this long for me to get this next chapter up! Real life has gotten the better of me, dumb homework._

_I don't write 'romantic' scenes often, so please forgive me if it seems akward. My real life romances have always been... strange, to say the least, so I have no baseline to compare to._

_Enjoy!  
_

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Eight: It was the Ninja's Fault  
**

_The city glistened in the light of the setting sun. Looking at it he could see why the legend of Atlantis had been perpetuated for so long. _

_Suddenly he was in the city, but the happy thoughts were gone. He was prowling the hallways, looking for something. The sensation of fear took hold, but something else pushed it down. Hearing a noise he spun around only to be thrown across the room by… something. _

_Getting his bearings he looked up and was horrified to see a deathly pale creature standing over him. It was not so much the stringy hair, or even the eyes that terrified him it was its grin. The grinning monster pulled it's arm back and thrust it at his chest knocking the wind out of him. Struggling to get up was useless, he could feel the life being drained out of him bit by bit. _

Sheppard sat bolt upright in his bed. He was breathing heavily and his heart was racing. This was not the first time he had strange dreams, it was the first time that he had seen those creatures though. The other dreams had been relatively happy, or there was some kind of event taking place, none had left him feeling so cold and scared.

Closing his eyes, he tried to remember the details. As much as he hated to relive this particular dream, he was trying to keep track of the ones he had hoping they related to his previous life. A soft knock at his door interrupted his thoughts and the dream slipped away.

"Jan?" Tara poked her head around the door. "Are you ok? You shouted out." She sounded concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Sheppard ran his hand through his hair and sighed.

Uninvited she opened the door fully, sat down on the bed next to him, and carefully tucked her nightgown in around her legs. She searched his eyes for the answer and guessed right. "A nightmare?"

He nodded, "I've been having really vivid dreams since I've been here. This was the first _bad_ one."

"Any more headaches?" She put a hand on his arm.

"Thankfully no." Recently he had developed occasional but severe migraines that had him worried, but he tried to downplay them to Tara. He kinda liked it when she tried to take care of him, but she always got so worried for him too. But sometimes he didn't have any choice, feverish, in pain and usually curled up on the bathroom floor near the toilet so he could retch, it was kind of hard to be self sufficient.

She smiled, "That's good."

For a moment, Sheppard was silent and just looked at her. She had been a great friend since he started his 'mission'. They shared a safe house, a moderate apartment provided by their employers, with one other person, a young man that was infiltrating the government science corps. Most of his time was spent at the government laboratory leaving the other two to their own devices. A relationship, not an entirely platonic one something Sheppard was pleased about, had begun to develop.

"You're staring again," Tara had a bemused smile on her face.

Sheppard resurfaced from his thoughts, "Sorry, I was just thinking."

"Oh yeah? About what?"

He grinned and replied facetiously, "Actually I was hoping for a headache so you'd try and nurse me back to health again."

Mouth agape she glared at him before playfully giving him a push. He'd not been ready for it and lost his balance, relocating himself and most of the blankets to the floor. Tara sniggered and lay down on her stomach to look him in the eye. "Sorry about that. I guess you're just a weakling…" she trailed off.

Feigning pain he put his hand to his forehead, "You're right. I think I bumped my head on the way off the bed. It's forming a lump already too, see?" He pointed at an imaginary spot on his forehead.

"Well let's see," she held his head still with her hands and pretended to examine him. "Hmmm… Oh my, it is bad. I don't know my own strength." Tara leaned forward and pressed her lips to his forehead. "Better now?"

Sheppard frowned, "No," he said sulkily.

"Well then, maybe I should let you get some rest," she released his head and began to scoot off the bed.

"Umm," Sheppard tried to think of something to say to get her to stay. Not being able to think of anything he shrugged and tackled Tara, pinning her to the ground. "I'm feeling much better."

Tara looked up at him from her position, pinned under him, "You know, last time you did this our roommate wondered about our bruises."

"We can just tell him that ninjas broke into the house and we saved him while he slept."

She raised an eyebrow. "What's a ninja?"

"Uh, you know, I don't have a clue. Now stop asking questions." He kissed her on the nose.

"Fine, no questions, but I think you'll need to shut up then so you stop saying stupid things." He opened his mouth to speak, but she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him, sufficiently quieting him.

* * *

"We're glad to have you back at fighting strength." Elizabeth watched as Rodney topped off his third glass of water. She had been pleased to hear the treatment had the desired effect on the scientist. His thirst would be a temporary side effect. Now she sat in the briefing room with Lorne and the rest of Sheppard's team so they could get her and Rodney up to date. 

Rodney acknowledged her comment with a nod, "Trust me, I wasn't enjoying myself for the past weeks. But I believe it's safe to say that my higher functions have returned to their normal brilliance. Not that they were dulled, I just had a momentary lapse of—"

"Rodney."

He stopped and looked up at Ronon who was staring at him with a raised eyebrow. Coughing, he caught the hint, "So, what's going on with the search for the Colonel?"

"Well," drawled Major Lorne, "a rumor that there were small groups of refugees forming colonies turned out to be true. We think, for some reason or another, that the people that gave you amnesia have been testing stuff on these refugees without their knowledge."

The large Satedan who had yet to take a seat paced around the room. "On most of the colonies we went to, someone had already _disposed_ of the people." Ronon cracked his knuckles menacingly, to have an entire colony wiped out hit too close to his own situation with Sateda.

Lorne shot Ronon a sympathetic look before continuing, "We were fortunate enough to find one of the researchers hiding. We had to be _persuasive_, but we managed to get some information out of her before she bit down on some kind of suicide pill."

Elizabeth thought back to when Lorne had originally told her they had found the woman. It had been pure luck that she had seen the Colonel leave through the gate to the woman's home world, but before the address could be obtained the woman had killed herself. Since then a twisted tale of civil war and religious zealots had unfolded causing more concern for the Colonel. If he was on the home world of these people he was in grave danger.

* * *

As usual, breakfast was eaten in silence. Their roommate, Franziscus, had gotten home early in the morning and they found him sacked out on a couch. 

Now, the scientist was huddled in his chair nursing a cup of liquid caffeine. Sheppard had always found the guy amusing and took every chance he could to tease him. "So," he took a bite of his food, "Big night Fran?"

"Actually yes," replied the man sleepily.

"What happened?" prompted Tara. Her foot had found Sheppard's and she pinched him with her toes. A playful kick was returned.

"It's always an interesting night when you find things out about your own government from the people you're spying on." He took a sip of his drink and looked at Sheppard. "Jan, I think you'll find this particularly interesting."

Sheppard looked away from Tara, "What?"

"We found evidence of our government conducting experiments on people with genes like us," he referred to the fact they had all been chosen for their respective jobs because they possessed the elusive gene. "Particularly experiments involving memory." Franziscus took another drink and looked over the rim of his mug conspiratorially, "interesting, no?"

"What kind of experiments?"

Franziscus shrugged, "I only saw the file briefly, but I believe they were purposefully inducing amnesia."

"Do you think that they experimented on you?" Tara looked over and Sheppard, obviously very worried.

His whole body had gone cold at the possibility. "I don't know," he said flatly. It was as if everything he'd ever been told was a lie. Suddenly he didn't have an appetite for breakfast anymore. He pushed away from the table murmuring, "I need to go." When Tara rose to follow him, he shook his head, "I need to have some time."


	9. Point your gun and Cough

_**A/N: **Thank you all for being so patient, and for reviewing! I apologize for the sucktacular chapter eight (I have a few family members read it and they agreed with my assesment). Hopefully this one will make up for my shortcomings in writing romance. I belive my brother, when reading it said, "Wow! Why did you end it this way? You suck." But then he knows what's going to happen anyways so I think he's complaining for the sake of complaining. My own little Rodney McKay! yay!  
_

_I'll try and get Chapter 10 up within a few days. I got a spiffy palm pilot that I can write this on while at work, so hopefully we'll closer spaced updates._

_Ejoy!_

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* * *

Chapter Nine: Point your gun and Cough  
**

The constant drizzle on the planet of the refugees' colony had turned into icy rain. Elizabeth stepped carefully as the muddy ground had frozen solid creating ridges and holes that would make it easy to trip. Major Lorne held out a steadying hand as her toe caught on a clump of frozen mud.

"Watch where you step," he cautioned with a smile, "if you trip, landing isn't the most pleasant experience." The Major displayed his hand, palm up, revealing a series of small cuts, his souvenir from tripping.

"Ouch," Elizabeth grimaced in sympathy.

"Dr Weir," greeted Teyla, who had stayed in the colony in hopes she could learn some way to persuade the refugees to help them. She turned to the Major and dipped her head in acknowledgment, "Major."

"Hey Teyla. So have the natives been getting restless?" Lorne surveyed the village as they entered it and noted that the inhabitants still wore their wary looks.

"They have said very little, I do not think it will be an easy task to win their trust."

"And the sooner we have their cooperation the sooner we will leave," stated Elizabeth resolutely. "If not..." she trailed off unsure what the alternative was.

"If not we take what we need," suggested Ronon.

Elizabeth frowned, that would be crossing a line she wasn't sure she wanted to, "I hope it doesn't come to that."

* * *

Dr Kavanaugh grumbled to himself as he hoisted his pack onto his back and stepped through the gate to the alpha site. He was partially glad to be free of the oppressive reign of Empress Weir, but to be sent to the Alpha site for gate simple diagnostics was an insult to his intelligence. 

"Dr Kavanaugh?" Captain Menendez took one of the cases the scientist was carrying in an effort to be helpful. "What's up?"

"I have been exiled to your post by the brilliant Dr McKay. His 'amnesia' has been cured and he is trying to make up for lost time by being as irritating as possible."

The Captain raised an eyebrow, more than likely they had gotten sick and tired of the man and had pawned him off to them. "So I take it that means the gate is going to be out of commission for a bit?"

"Well duh," Kavanaugh glared at the young woman, "Your last name should be Obvious, not Menendez."

She gave him a thin-lipped smile, "Gee thanks Doc." With a roll of her eyes, she handed him back the case she had helped with. "Let me know when you're going to be done."

Kavanaugh watched her stop to talk with one of the marines on guard duty. The two laughed for a moment, then she glanced over at him quickly before entering one of the buildings.

Sighing he pulled his pack off and got to work. If he didn't have any problems he'd be back in Atlantis in a few hours and could get back to the _real_ work that needed to be done. He pulled a small panel off the gate and removed a few control crystals to prevent the gate from operating while he worked a standard procedure during diagnostics.

* * *

Tara loosely secured her hair with a clip and checked her work in the mirror. Jan had already left for the day, so it was just herself and Franziscus, but she found her thoughts wandering back to Jan, she was worried for him. 

" Tara, you look lost in thought," Fran didn't look up from the portable computer on his lap. He was lounging about on the couch, with his feet propped up on a short table.

She sighed, "Oh, it's Jan. You know since you told him about the experiments he's been behaving strangely."

Fran shrugged. "You said he would probably want to know."

"I know. And I still think he'd be a great asset."

"Perhaps, but you're treading on dangerous ground here."

Tara squatted down and felt under the short table, "That's why I'm always prepared." She displayed a gun that had been stored under the table. "But you're right, we do need to be careful," she said strapping the firearm to her thigh so that it was hidden under the folds of her skirt. Straightening up she smoothed down her shirt, "Are you ready?"

After turning off his computer Fran stood and nodded, "So we're just setting up the dampening field today?"

"Yes. Later this week we'll put the explosives together."

* * *

Sheppard slipped the disk with the satellite schematics into his pocket. He was finding it exceedingly easy to steal information. It must be the uniform, the dark blue tailored and incredibly uncomfortable straightjacket would make anyone look like a credible military officer. 

Trying to look nonchalant, he opened the door to the archival room and glanced into the hallway. At one end, two women were discussing something, and the other end of the hallway was empty save for the massive doors marked 'Security Clearance Needed Beyond This Point'. With a satisfied smirk, he stepped out of the room and turned to lock the door, the second it latched in place an alarm blared. Startled, Sheppard swore and darted for the nearest exit.

The two women watched him with startled looks. Taking the initiative, the woman wearing the combat fatigues of a guard stepped into his path to block him. "Sir!"

Sliding to a stop, he narrowly avoided slamming into her. The blood drained from his face when she reached for her gun.

"Sir, do you need my backup firearm?" she was holding the butt of the weapon towards him.

The relief on his face must have been mistaken for gratefulness by the guard. She smiled as he took the gun, but it faded quickly when she glanced behind him at the doors on the other end of the hall. An armed contingent had already placed themselves near the door and was cautiously preparing to open them.

With the knowledge, the business ends of the guns would not be pointed in his direction anytime soon, Sheppard switched back to soldier mode. The guard following close behind him he joined the group at the door.

"What's the situation?" he kneeled next to the Sergeant that seemed to be giving the orders.

Barely glancing back at the Colonel the Sergeant was preparing his rifle. "Ring room's been breached."

"By how many?"

"The tentative count is seven intruders."

Sheppard's eyebrows shot up at this information. It sounded almost like an assault team was garrisoned in there. He cocked his gun in anticipation of a fight.

The Sergeant indicated with a silent motion of his hand to enter the room. In an explosion of movement, the group spilled in through the doors and into the ring room, Sheppard kept behind the armored men since he was relatively unprotected.

His senses were sharpened by adrenaline and every detail of the room was crystal clear. He saw a boarded up window on one end of the massive room, a glass enclosure with computers and a guard slumped over them. The dominant feature of the room, however, was the massive ring standing in the center.

"Sir! Get down," a hand roughly pushed him behind cover in time to prevent him from being hit from the bullet that ricocheted on the wall that had been directly behind him.

Putting the strangely familiar ring out of his mind, he focused on the present situation. Behind a large stack of crates on the other end of the room, he could make out at least three individuals taking cover behind them. He had no idea where the other four were.

A metallic clink drew the groups' attention to a small canister that rolled towards them. The man that had pushed Sheppard down swore when he realized what it was. "If you have a gas mask, put it on!"

Sheppard's eyes widened in realization, he glanced behind him to see if the group was able to retreat. He could account for at least three more of the assailants, as they were chaining the door shut. Taking aim, he fired at the nearest person, but a cloud of vapors from the gas canister reached him making him cough and sputter. The shot went wild and knocked out the glass on the booth that had the computer equipment inside of it.

"Sir?" the woman who had given him her firearm kneeled next to him, she was coughing just as hard as he was.

He tried to clear his burning eyes by wiping them with his sleeve, but it was useless. "Did anyone have their masks?" His voice sounded rough, the gas must be burning his throat as well.

She looked over at the guards who were attempting to shoot the attackers, and shook her head. "We're trapped. What should we do?" A coughing fit took her over and she fell to the floor gasping for a breath.

Sheppard tried to see what the status of the other soldiers was, but he only see blurry shapes near him. He managed a hoarse groan before the burning sensation and difficulty breathing became too much. 


	10. When Wraith Attack

_**A/N: **Sorry about that cliff hanger! I'm even more sorry to say there's another one at the end of this chapter. Hehe... The speculations you posted gave me an idea and I had to change some small details to get it to fit, but thanks for the inspiration!_

_I would say now the story is about halfway done, but I have no idea how many more chapters are going to be added, so who knows!_

_Enjoy! _

**

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**Chapter Ten: When Wraith Attack **

That day several people cursed when they saw the news. In particular, Minister Aangd of the Paedagogi people. One of her aides had alerted the Minister to the Agnascor broadcast. The elderly woman seethed when she saw it, knowing that their plans had ultimately been spoiled.

A handsome anchor smiled charmingly at the camera, "Today, an attack on the Agnascor Tactical Headquarters resulted in the death of one soldier who succumbed to an allergic reaction from an antidote for a nerve agent used in the attack. The rest have been taken to the hospital and are said to be in stable condition." The newscaster cleared his throat before continuing.

"It is currently unknown whether the attack was carried out by Paedagogi agents, no one has yet claimed responsibility. The only Agnascor Officer on the scene has also been reported missing, presumably captured. Officials believe he is being held for ransom or interrogation."

An image of Sheppard appeared on the screen, "If anyone has seen Colonel Jan Enderson, please contact the authorities immediately. It is unknown if he has been treated for his exposure to the nerve agent, and will need to be seen by medical personnel as soon as possible."

The Minister motioned for the program to be turned off. She sat mulling in her chair for a moment weighing the possibilities. "Get Colonel Rafal in here. We need to assemble an insertion team to eliminate our agent. He has been compromised."

* * *

The world didn't come into focus when he opened his eyes. Sheppard blinked them, wincing at the burning that made them tear up, but his surroundings remained unidentifiable blurs of color. 

He couldn't remember what had happened. The feeling was starting to become commonplace and he hated it for that fact. Someone spoke near him, making him jump.

"Easy Colonel, it'll be ok, I'm just helping." The man's voice sounded familiar. A hand grasped his wrist to take his pulse.

"What happened?" it was difficult to speak and triggered a painful coughing fit.

The man helped him sit to ease his breathing, "You were exposed to a nerve agent. Don't worry, you'll be fine, an antidote was given to you after only a few minutes of exposure. In a few hours you'll be like new."

Slumping back against his pillow, he rubbed his eyes again to get the blur out. A different pair of hands grabbed him this time.

"Don't rub, it'll make it worse. Just lay back and take a nap. Like Fran said, in a few hours you'll be back to normal."

" Tara?" he squinted barely making out the shape of her face. What was she doing here?

"Yes, it's me. Now lay back and rest, you'll feel better soon."

Sheppard fought against her pushing him back into the pillows. The memory of the gas and attack was starting to come back. "No, wait." He brushed her hand aside. "What's going on? Who the hell were those people that attacked me?"

If Sheppard had been able to focus his eyes he would have seen the guilty looks on both Fran and Tara's faces. "Jan," Tara paused and looked at her roommate for reassurance. Fran nodded and gave her an encouraging look. "Jan, do you remember seeing that big ring?"

Sheppard nodded thinking back to his first impression of the massive object. It was nerve-wrackingly familiar to him. "So, what is it?"

"You probably don't remember if you were a religious person or not, but all of our lives we have been told of a ring that was the gateway to the home of the Ancestral gods."

"And you think that's it?" Sheppard was skeptical.

"Oh no, but if it were to become public knowledge the general population may think it is. What we do know is that this is one of the major things being fought for in this war. Whoever is in possession of it would have a powerful tool. The group that you encountered today has the soul objective to destroy that ring to stop that from happening and to maybe even stop this ridiculous war altogether."

"So you gassed me and those other soldiers so you could blow up that ring thing?"

"Actually that was just a diversion."

Fran broke into the conversation, "the ring is composed of an element that absorbs energy. If we were to just set charges, either the entire city would be destroyed by the release of energy or it would just absorb the initial detonation."

Sheppard raised his eyebrows at that news, "wow. So what were you doing in there?"

"Setting up and concealing a dampening field. Hopefully it's enough to contain such an explosion." Fran's voice sounded slightly uncertain.

"Hopefully?"

Fran coughed, "It's a well educated guess."

Sheppard nodded, "Ok…" He closed his eyes and let himself relax back onto the pillows. "I do have one more question."

"What?"

"What does that ring do? I mean, does it have some nifty function or is it more of an ambiance type thing?"

Tara spoke this time, "We've heard rumors, but there's no solid proof that the ring really does anything. At least anything we know of. Actually we were hoping you may be able to help with that."

"No offense, but why would I help all of you with this? You just gassed me!"

The woman sounded affronted nonetheless, "Maybe because it's the right thing to do? They call this a cold war, but if you ever had a chance to really see what the people are going through, you'd know that there are still casualties."

Knowing when to pick his fights Sheppard held up his hands in surrender, "Fine. Just let me think about it. For now, can I take my nap?"

"I'm sorry," her voice had softened, "but we're not through discussing this. As soon as you can defend yourself I am going to give you a piece of my mind."

"Oh joy," muttered Sheppard. He sighed and pulled a blanket over his head hoping that the headache he had would be gone by the time he woke.

* * *

"I would not give you the address to my home world if you had my own child being held hostage," spat out the elderly woman sitting before Elizabeth. 

The leader of Atlantis rubbed her temple; the negotiations had been like this for several hours now. When she thought they were finally going to come to an agreement the other woman seemed to change her mind and decide not to cooperate. "Melba, I am sure there is _something _we can offer you. At least try to understand our situation."

Melba sat in silent staring at her obstinately.

"How about food or other basic supplies?"

"We have everything we need in abundance."

"Weapons? I notice that you do not have any defenses against a Wraith attack. We may be able to help you with that."

This warranted a raised eyebrow, "Wraith?"

Elizabeth had to keep her jaw from dropping. This woman had no knowledge of the Wraith? The implications were tremendous. It meant they had found a possible bargaining chip, and if their world was untouched by the Wraith, they may be able to come to some kind of agreement with the government of her world.

"You've never heard of the Wraith? Tall pale guys with fangs that suck the life out of you?" Major Lorne asked in disbelief.

Melba looked thoughtful for a moment, "there is a legend that I heard some time ago, but I thought it was religious metaphor." She hesitated, seeming unsure if she wanted to share this with the Lanteans. "My people believe that the Ancestral Gods created two races of humans on my planet. The Agnascor, people like myself who posses genes like the Gods, and the Paedagogi, created to serve the more evolved."

"The Ancestral Gods had a demonic enemy, one that could drain the youth from a person and control the mind. To protect the planet the Ancestors did something, I believe the phrase was, 'They rearranged the stars, so as to hide the world from the universe, and locked the gate, so that only those who have the key may come and go freely'." Melba stopped speaking and looked down at her hands clasped on the table, "if these Wraith are real, I do not think we will need your help to deal with them."

Raising an eyebrow Elizabeth eyed the woman, "I'm sure you believe your community here is able to defend yourselves. However, the Wraith are not something you can fight off and expect to never be bothered by them again. We know this from personal experience, and if you truly knew what you would be up against, you would accept _any_ assistance."

"Dr Weir," Melba stood up and leaned towards Elizabeth trying to be as intimidating as possible. "You are asking me to give you the means to travel to my home world. In exchange, you offer assistance for an enemy that may or may not show up, and one that we may have the capability to defend ourselves from. Why should I cooperate?"

Elizabeth's temper flared, the woman before her knew how to get to the planet where the Commanding Military officer of Atlantis and the one individual who could master Ancient technology as it was meant to be, was. "The leader of my military is injured and on your planet. He is vital to my people and we need him back. We won't give up unless a body is produced. And at this time, we consider him to be held against his will; among my government that is enough to declare war, and trust me, you do not want to be our enemy."

Behind Dr Weir, Major Lorne glared at Melba trying to back up Elizabeth's statement. The effect was spoiled when his earpiece clicked on, making him jump. "This is Lorne, go ahead."

Ronon was on the other end of the radio, "Major, we've got gate activity. Three darts just came through."

"Damn!" the explicative made the two women stop bickering and look at him. "Ladies, we need to go now. It looks like we'll have a chance to show you first hand how nasty the Wraith can be."

Both paled visibly, "Melba, we have enough room on our transports to get most of your village to safety." Elizabeth was glad the community was so small; with the two jumpers they had, it would be easy to fit the twenty or so individuals in them and fly to the alpha site.

"Lt Jeffries, have the jumpers flown to the village. We need to get the hell outa dodge ASAP," Lorne motioned for the two women to follow him.

Gasping in surprise Melba held back when she saw the two puddle jumpers materialize above her. They landed several hundred feet away. "Those are Ancestral ships!"

Ronon, who was leaning out of the nearest jumper took the old woman's hand and helped her into the ship. He shrugged his shoulders at her comment, "Surprise?"

The woman stared at the interior in awe. Wandering up to the console she delicately reached out and touched it drawing her had back when it responded to her gene and lit up. Major Lorne guided her to a chair, "Ma'am, why don't we leave the flying to me?"

It took only a few minutes for the marines to round up the villagers and herd them into the jumpers. As the last group was running towards their means of escape, the whine of the Wraith darts became audible. One zipped overhead and made a sharp turn back towards the stragglers. Realizing now the danger they were in panic came over them and they sprinted the last few feet to the jumpers. It was effort spent too late however; the marine, three adults and two children vanished in the dart's beam.

Teyla began closing the hatch when Melba cried for her to stop. "We need to save them! Stop, open the door, let me out."

Putter her hand on the woman's shoulder Elizabeth tried to comfort her, "Melba, there's not much we can do. The best is to destroy the dart before it leaves the planet." The woman just stared at her in shock, and sat down heavily on one of the jumper's benches as it took off.

"Dr Weir, should I dial the Alpha site?" At Elizabeth's nod, Lorne punched in the address as the two cloaked jumpers neared the gate. "Uh, we've got a problem."

"What is it Major?"

Lorne looked pale, "I can't dial the Alpha site. The gate won't engage." 


	11. To Be or Not to Be… An Ancient

_And on with the next chapter! There's a bit of slighly raunch humor shared between Sheppard and his ill-chosen beau. It's not too bad, nothing that wouldn't be on TV. _

_Again, I thank you all for your continued support. This story has gotten so much attention already and it's not even done! Makes me feel good that I can write something entertaining for you all. Hopefully the few twists, turns and suprises coming up will be just as enjoyable._

_Update on my meeting Joe, he is definetly confirmed to be coming to the convention I'm going to. My friend running one of the sections of it is hopeful he may get him to attend one of his panels, which means I can take advantage of the situation... hehe... and we're formally inviting him to the bar. The plan is to get a few drinks in him before taking advantage of the man. _

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* * *

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**Chapter Eleven: To Be or Not to Be… An Ancient **

"The mystery around this most recent attack continues to unfold," the voice drifted into Sheppard's dream. He rolled over attempting to block it out. "We have been given firsthand testimony that the officer that is currently missing is not, in fact, Colonel Jan Enderson." When the name was said, Sheppard opened his eyes and sat up.

Tara, who was sitting on the edge of the bed watching the newscast, turned and gave him a small smile before moving her gaze back to the screen.

"In an interview with a former CO of Enderson's we came a little closer to knowing the truth behind this intriguing mystery." The picture changed to show a sinewy man that stared with squinted eyes at the interviewer.

"About a year ago, Enderson went missing. After three weeks, the search was called off and he was presumed dead. Which was why it was so shocking to see him a month later come stumbling into the outpost. The man was addled in the head; he didn't make any sense when trying to talk to us. The Docs said it looked like someone messed with his brain, but there's no conclusive evidence to prove that's what it was."

The interviewer nodded, "And the individual that was taken today, is definitely not Colonel Enderson?"

"They're a close match, and I'd say they could be brothers if anything, but that man is not Enderson. Moreover, I have proof because he's currently on a hospital bed wired to more machines than I knew existed. The most interesting thing is he's in a persistent vegetative state, meaning it's highly doubtful the individual that's missing could be Colonel Jan Enderson."

Sheppard, still slightly groggy from his nap didn't comprehend right away what the news broadcast meant. After a moment his brain kicked into high gear. "Damn. I am so screwed."

Seeing his distress Tara said light heartedly, "that can be arranged if you want."

He gave her a half-hearted smile. "Too bad it's not that simple." With a sigh he threw off the blankets and got out of the bed glancing his clothing that was draped over a chair. "Well, obviously my uniform is no longer a practical part of my wardrobe, I'd be crazy to wear that now. You didn't happen to grab a change of clothes, did you?"

"Of course. Unlike some people I don't have memory issues." She reached for a bag by her feet and tossed it to him. "I put a hat in there too so no one has to see your ugly face."

"You're a true philanthropist a heart, you know?" Sheppard shucked off the shirt he had worn under the military uniform and pulled the one Tara had provided him over his head. "So what's the plan?" His voice muffled from under his shirt.

"Well, the original plan didn't include gassing and kidnapping you. But I'd say at this time you need to stay out of sight, as no doubt some people are upset that you are not who you said you were."

"Hence the reason I am screwed." He put the hat on and modeled it for Tara. "With all my luck there's a hit team out there gunning for me."

"Which is why we're not back at the apartment, I don't want you to get killed, and you're too much fun to tease."

Sheppard frowned, "Is that the only reason you keep me around?"

Tara shrugged nonchalantly, "If you're referring to the sex, it's decent."

"Well, as long as I'm not just an object to you."

"I can come back later if you're busy," said Fran from the door. He played nervously with a folder in his hands.

The two started in surprise not hearing the man approach. "Fran, what's up?" Sheppard recovered quickly and grinned at his roommate.

Fran seemed to relax, stepped into the room, and offered the folder to Sheppard. "I got called into the lab so I thought I'd take advantage of possibly the last chance I'd have to do some digging." He watched Sheppard's face as he skimmed over the files in the folder. "That's everything I could find about those experiments you may have been part of. Nothing in there about who you really are, but it's got some interesting bits."

Sheppard's face paled, "it says the maximum life expectancy of all the subjects is twelve weeks."

"How long do you think it has been?"

The mental math only took him a moment, "about nine weeks."

* * *

Elizabeth forced herself to remain visibly calm when Major Lorne informed her of their inability to dial the Alpha site. Her insides, however, felt like they wanted to join everyone else in the jumper. Fighting the queasy feeling, she mentally listed the options and came to a decision. "Dial Atlantis directly Major." 

The dark haired officer nodded and punched in the address. There was an audible sigh of relief from all occupants of the jumper when the shimmering event horizon appeared. "I'm sending through the IDC code now," stated Lorne.

"What's going on Elizabeth?" Rodney's voice over the radio sounded concerned. He knew they were not scheduled to be back this soon.

"We had some Wraith visitors, are you going to lower the shield?"

They heard Rodney snap at someone to power it down. "Sorry about that."

With the second jumper sliding through the event horizon and into the gate room of Atlantis, Elizabeth turned to the shell shocked Melba. "Welcome to Atlantis."

The woman stood up and peered timidly out of the opening rear hatch. She lead her terrified displaced people into the jumper bay. "This is Atlantis?"

Elizabeth nodded. With their locations confirmed, the entire group began quietly speaking with each other. Leaning over to Major Lorne who was watching them with a bemused smile, she said, "I hate to say it, but the Wraith had great timing."

Lorne had a small sad smile on his lips, "Yes ma'am. I still wish they hadn't come at all. We lost Sergeant Bell, then there're Melba's people that were taken too."

"I know," she said softly crossing her arms and watching the group before her intently. How many lives were justified in rescuing someone? Guilt was a familiar feeling, something she had to learn to live with as a leader, but there was a fine line between such decisions. The simple fact was that Sheppard's life was more valuable than all of the other soldiers' on Atlantis. Every one of them knew this, which was why they were so willing to risk death to find the man. Without him, there would be no one able to adequately control the chair. She sighed, and she missed him. Over the year and a half they had been on this mission, they'd developed a bond as the leaders of Atlantis. Both of them knew the burdens of responsibility and just knowing that the other was there to provide support was often help enough. What would John do? She smiled at the question, thinking back to the religious term WWJD? that had become popular before they had left Earth. The smile disappeared, knowing he'd never leave someone behind.

"Major Lorne, how long would it take to assemble a rescue team?"

The man raised an eyebrow, "Most of my people are ready to go. Five minutes to replenish ammunition and supplies would be all we'd need."

"Good," she turned her gaze from Melba's small group to the Major. "I want you to go back to the planet. If the darts are still there, you're authorized to do anything necessary to rescue those people. Have Dr Zelenka go with you, since he has experience with the Wraith beaming technology."

The Major was grinning, "Yes ma'am!"

Having relieved at least part of her guilty conscious Elizabeth returned the smile before moving her gaze back to the refugees. The decision to bring them directly had been impulsive of her. There was a designated Beta site, she should have ordered Lorne there, however, call it women's intuition, but she had felt that bringing them directly to Atlantis would be beneficial.

"Dr Weir," Melba approached her, the older woman's eyes were wide in wonderment and her posture had changed from being on the defensive to apprehensive. "This wondrous place is truly the city of the Ancestral Gods?"

"It is."

"And this Colonel you're trying to find, he is vital to this place?"

Elizabeth wondered what the woman was getting at, "Colonel Sheppard has an innate ability to control the city. Without him our chances against the Wraith are reduced considerably."

"He must be of the Ancestral blood then, as are others of your people?" She glanced at Major Lorne who was directing his team to load supplies onto one of the jumpers. "I apologize for your treatment previous to this revelation. Had we known… you may very well have had your man back by now." To Elizabeth's chagrin, the woman got down on her knees, "Please forgive us. We are bound to the Ancestral Gods, and as you are of their descendants we will do whatever it takes to assist you."

"Melba," she bent down and helped the woman stand, wincing in sympathy as the woman's joints popped. "Melba, we're not-"

" Elizabeth!" Rodney stopped her short as he came into the jumper bay. Behind him trailed Teyla and Ronon, who had both left to brief Dr McKay on what had happened before he met the refugees. Teyla had been morbidly afraid he was going to offend one of them.

"Melba, this is Dr Rodney McKay," Elizabeth introduced her to the breathless scientist.

Without missing a beat, "Nice to meet you." He turned back to Elizabeth, "Teyla and Ronon told me what happened. Dr Kavanaugh was driving me nuts so I had him pack his stuff and sent him to the Alpha site for the longest most tedious task I could think of a gate diagnostic, which, coincidentally is the reason you couldn't get a connection. Honestly, that man has got to have authority issues, it just seems that he goes out of his way to cause trouble. Just the other day he-"

It was her turn to cut him off, "Rodney could I have a word?" She smiled at Melba before pulling the man behind the jumper. "They think we're Ancients!" she hissed.

"What?" squeaked Rodney.

"Apparently they worship Ancients, and since some of us have the ATA gene and occupy Atlantis, they've assumed we're Ancients."

He stood silent for a moment, his lips pressed into a thin line. "Maybe we shouldn't dissuade them from thinking this."

"We can't do that Rodney!"

"Why not? They'd do anything for us now that they believe that, right?" He shifted his weight and crossed his arms, staring at her smugly.

Elizabeth sighed, "If this relationship starts out on a lie, we'd be no better than the Genii, leaving the fact we're not Ancients for them to 'accidentally' discover." She shook her head, "I'm not willing to risk developing another bad relationship. Plus, their world is untouched by the Wraith."

His eyebrows shot up at that comment, "Wow."

"I know. We can't risk ruining something like this."

"Uh, what if we, uh," he stammered trying to come up with an idea before throwing up his hands. "I've got nothing. Normally this kind of sneakiness is Sheppard's specialty, as he is constantly reminding me how much I suck at lying."

"It's a catch-22, if we don't tell them the truth we may get the Colonel back but risk future relations with potentially valuable allies."

"And if we do tell them, we'd still be risking future relations, and we may never get Sheppard back," Rodney finished for her. "Honestly, from how difficult is has been dealing with them up until now, I'm not sure they'd ever be our allies. At least by lying to them we get the benefit of having Sheppard back."

Elizabeth paced, she hated making decisions like this. Rodney did bring up a valid point though. Up until now, Melba had not been very cooperative. She looked up at Rodney, "So how do Ancients act?"

* * *

Colonel Rafal surveyed his small team with a sense of satisfaction. They were the best soldiers they had, trained to covertly carry out the most difficult of missions. He tried not to think too much about the mission. Every time he did a pang of sorrow made him regret what he had to do, he had really grown to like the man they were going to kill. 

He sighed, shaking his head slightly before motioning for his team to load into the vehicle, "Alright men, sunset is two hours away. We will be using the cover of darkness to cross the river and reach our safe house. From there we will locate the target and carry out our orders. Move out!"


	12. Answering Door Hazardous to Health

_Hopefully things aren't too suspensful for you all... maybe I should issue a warning for those with heart problems? ;-)_

_I've had some time since we've been snowed in (I just love Colorado winters) and have gotten more done for you all. So with any more luck the next few chapters will be up relatively quickly. Wouldn't want to keep you all waiting!_

_Thank you for the comments and reviews. I promise things only get worse for the gang from here on..._

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**Chapter Twelve: Answering Door Hazardous to Health **

He had reluctantly agreed to help destroy the mysterious ring. Sheppard was deeply shaken by the files Fran had stolen for him. His impression of the Paedagogi government had turned from slightly suspicious, to outright distrust. And from what he knew of the Agnascor government from his clandestine activities he didn't trust them either. The only people left were the tiny group of rebels set on destroying the ring.

"What do you think Jan?" Tara handed him a map.

"Looks good. Except we can't go in that way, they'll have it guarded. We'll probably need a diversion to draw attention off the ring room."

Fran cleared his throat drawing their attentions, "I have an idea." He smiled wickedly, "What do they want more than anything right now?" The other two stared at him with blank expressions. With an exasperated sigh, he pointed at Sheppard, "Jan. They want to know who you are. If you were to waltz in, they'd be all over you. Then when we blow the ring and their attention will be drawn away from you we come and get you. Problem solved."

"So what happens when everything goes to hell like most missions like this do?" Sheppard raised his eyebrow skeptically. "I don't want to be rotting in a prison for the rest of my life. No matter how short it may be."

"I'll go with you. The more of us they have, the more to gang up on them when it comes to escape." Tara shrugged as if weren't very important.

"No," Sheppard said bluntly. "I don't want you to risk getting captured."

"And what? Risk getting blown up or shot trying to destroy the ring is preferable to capture?" She glared at him with a flushed face. "All you men are the same. You get a little affection from a woman and suddenly we need to be coddled. It's disgusting!" In a huff, she left the room leaving the two bewildered men staring after her.

Fran glanced at Sheppard sympathetically, "I am so glad I am not you right now."

Sheppard hadn't heard Fran's comment, he was concentrating on the stab of pain that had arched through his skull. The pain was so intense, sudden spots obscured his vision, and he felt himself wavering.

"Jan? Are you feeling alright?" Fran put a steadying hand on Sheppard's shoulder.

One hand on the wall to support himself, the other over his eyes, he murmured, "I think I'm gonna be sick." With that he darted to the bathroom.

* * *

Major Lorne returned from the short-lived rescue mission. The news had not been encouraging. They had not detected a single human life form on the planet, or any Wraith darts. They were long gone. 

Discouraged, he helped his team unload the jumper. "Major, can you please meet me in my office? And can you have Zelenka come too?" said Elizabeth over the radio.

"Be right there ma'am," he handed his P-90 and flack vest to one of his team. "Dr Weir wants to speak with Zelenka and I, can you take care of this?" When the woman nodded in affirmation, he gave her a parting pat on the back before leading the clueless Czech by the arm out of the jumper bay.

"What can I do for you Dr Weir?"

Elizabeth looked up from her tablet PC when she heard Lorne and Zelenka enter. "I need to fill you both in on a situation that has developed."

"Can I listen in?" asked Rodney, poking his head into the office. "I want to see the looks on their faces."

Zelenka and Lorne glanced at each other worriedly, McKay sounded too excited by that prospect. Seeing the looks exchanged Elizabeth smiled and reassured them, "Don't worry, it's not bad news, per say."

"Per say? What is it then?" said Zelenka glaring at Rodney for a moment before turning his attention back to Weir.

"We've be backed into a corner. Our _guests_, the refugees, have labeled us as Ancients." Lorne grinned at that. "The catch is we're going to do nothing to make them think otherwise. As far as everyone is concerned we are the descendants of the Ancestors returning from Earth to declare our heritage."

"Lorne, I need you to put together a retrieval team. Make sure everyone on it has the gene. I also want Rodney and Carson to go as well. Rodney," Elizabeth looked up at McKay, who was leaning casually against the doorframe, "I want you to find out as much as you can about that planet when you get there. Especially why the Wraith can't access it. Dr Beckett will be there to make sure the Colonel is capable of traveling through the gate."

"When do we leave?" Lorne was already standing prepared to start readying his men immediately.

"Tomorrow. Melba says we need a device installed on the gate to override some kind of failsafe on their home gate."

"Which I still think is unnecessary," commented Rodney. "We can just transmit a simple algorithm when we dial which should override any of the protocol programs on their end."

Zelenka frowned, "That may work, but what if the protocols involve actual hardware that manually reroutes the information and energy streams? I think we should examine the device they want to install."

Shaking his head Rodney sighed, "Can't, it'd give them a reason to be suspicious of our story. We're Ancients, remember? It's _our_ technology they want installed. I casually looked it over already, without taking it apart and reverse engineering it we can't determine exactly how it works."

"Then we install it like they say. Just to play it safe," said Zelenka.

The two scientists continued arguing about the usage of the device leaving Lorne and Elizabeth in the office. "Those two never stop do they?" commented the Major with a shake of his head.

"With John gone they don't have that extra source of friendly banter. I suppose that energy had to go someplace."

Lorne chuckled, "Then it would benefit all of us to get the Colonel back. Personally being the highest military rank on Atlantis scares the crap outa me. Never got my own team when I was with the SGC, so having my own city, well that's a big promotion."

"You're doing well, if that's any consolation."

"Not really, but thanks." He smiled, and then pointing at the door added, "Well, I better go get the troops ready."

Elizabeth watched him leave hoping that this rescue mission, unlike the last one, would be successful.

* * *

His headache had continued all through the night. It had been agony. Sheppard had eventually just moved in to the bathroom due to the constant queasiness that plagued him. Weakly he splashed some water on his face and looked up at his reflection in the mirror. "Damn, I look terrible." 

"Yeah, you do." Tara was at the door of the room. They had not spoken since their falling out, so until a few minutes ago the suffering from his headache went unnoticed all night. "I was reading over that file last night." She sat him down on the commode, prepared a toothbrush, and handed it to him. "This'll get the taste out of your mouth."

"Thanks," he took it and stuck it in his mouth.

"Anyways, it says headaches like these are a sign that whatever they did has built up enough scar tissue in your brain to begin to restrict blood flow. It gets technical after that, Fran would probably do a better job explaining it than me." She took the toothbrush from him and gave him a cup of water and some pain reliever pills. "Don't toss these up too."

"Yes mother," he replied as facetiously as he could muster. But there was no real feeling behind the comment, the headaches were getting more constant and more painfully disabling. He tried not to think about it, but he knew that if they couldn't figure out how to fix him these headaches would kill him.

His face must have given his thoughts away to Tara who looked at him sadly for a moment. "We'll figure this out. We've got to." Hearing the front door slam, she stood up and peered out of the bathroom. "It's Fran. He ran over to the other apartment to pick up some stuff."

* * *

Colonel Rafal was amazed at how easy it had been to track down the wayward agents. They had arrived at the safe house and set up surveillance, hoping at some point their target, or one of his roommates, would appear. Their efforts had not gone unrewarded, as early that morning a thin sleepy looking man had arrived. 

"Corporal, track him back to wherever he is going, then radio us when he gets there, if you have the chance survey the area looking for good strike points." Rafal watched the man salute and creep off after the man. He sighed, killing, despite how good he was at it, was not something he enjoyed. The other agents would be unfortunate victims in this just by association.

Half an hour later, he received the call from the Corporal. They had found Enderson. It only took them a few minutes to reach the building they reportedly were in. He nodded at his man, "Good work Corporal."

"Preliminary surveillance indicates there are three people inside. I believe it to be the man I followed, one woman and our target," the Corporal had been thorough with his intelligence gathering.

"Send a team around to secure the rear door and any emergency escapes. I'll lead a team in through the front." He stood up securing a silencer onto his handgun, "Let's try to make this as discreet as possible."

Rafal took three men to the front door and motioned for one of them to knock on it. He heard the knob turn and a head poked out, "Yes?" The man reacted fast when he saw the weapons, drawing his head inside he said, "Oh shi-" but was cut off by the bullet Rafal shot at him. Landing with a soft thump the man stared blankly up at the ceiling.

"Fran? Who was it?" called a woman's voice from somewhere further into the apartment. Without speaking, the Colonel indicated for the other two men to advance and find her.

A tense silence fell over the home, and Rafal immediately sensed something was wrong. Without warning, the woman rolled into the hall pulling out a firearm in one smooth motion. Her deadly accuracy downed his two men, but gave him the seconds he needed to dive behind a piece of furniture. He radioed for the remainder of his team to come in through the back.

"What do you want?" she said. Her voice was cold and unnervingly calm for just having been attacked.

Rafal didn't reply, knowing she wanted him to speak to reveal his position. Instead he crept around behind the furniture hoping to get behind her. A footstep next to him made him turn only to have a foot connect with his head. Pain clouded his vision, but he didn't fall unconscious. The woman spoke, "Jan, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling a little better actually."

"Nice kick, but we need to get out of here."

Before the darkness took over he watched them leave through the front door, seconds before his men found him on the floor out cold.


	13. Camp Cherokee Gone Bad

_Alrighty, super long chapter for you all. Dr Beckett gets to have some off world fun now with Major Lorne and Dr McKay. I hope they don't get into too much trouble..._

_And I love the idea of Girl Scouts packing Uzi's. Hehe... I wouldn't have had any trouble selling cookies then._

_Thanks again for all the reviews, and enjoy the chapter! _

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**Chapter Thirteen: ** **Camp ****Cherokee**** Gone Bad **

Dr Beckett was not thrilled to have to come with Major Lorne. Pushing aside his apprehensiveness towards gate travel, he made an effort not to complain knowing that Colonel Sheppard more than likely needed his expertise. He was surprised to find himself stepping out of the gate into a room that was reminiscent of the SGC on earth. It looked like a big warehouse; one end had a glass enclosure filled with what he assumed to be their dialing computer. The rest was filled with edgy soldiers, guns aimed at the visitors.

"Lower your weapons," a voice boomed from behind the guards. They obeyed and stepped aside to reveal the speaker, a muscular man with more facial hair than seemed possible for a human. "You must be Major Lorne?" he approached the soldier.

Lorne nodded, "Yes sir. And you are?"

"Ah, forgive me," he grasped the Major's arm in something akin to a handshake, "General Borsen. It is an honor to meet you." Under his beard, mustache and sideburns Beckett thought he saw a smile.

"This is Dr Rodney McKay, and Dr Carson Beckett," Lorne introduced the two nervous men. The General administered the same hearty greeting he had with Lorne. As the rest of the team was introduced, Beckett watched Rodney pull out one of his scanners and go over his readings.

"Ah Dr McKay, are you interested in seeing some of our technology?" asked the General upon seeing the Ancient device the doctor was using.

"Uh, sure. I'm actually hoping to record the changes in the stratosphere since we, uh, where here last," Rodney struggled to come up with a feasible reason to be taking readings.

The General didn't seem to notice that the man was terrible at lying, "Then you would want to speak with our atmospheric defense department." He snapped his fingers and one of his soldiers jumped to attention, "Assist the Doctor please."

Rodney nervously allowed the man to take his pack full of equipment. With a final glance at Lorne and Beckett he followed the man out of the room.

"We were told that you may know where the individual is we are looking for?" asked Lorne.

"Ah yes. Curious circumstances actually, quite curious." He motioned for the group to follow him, "We have some security footage I would like you to see, and perhaps we can finally identify this man."

They followed him to what they presumed to be a surveillance room. Screens filled up one wall displaying live feeds from every room and hallway in the complex. Lorne was absorbed in what the General was saying, however Beckett wandered up to the screens and glanced over them. One screen caught his attention.

"What is this?" he asked the soldier who seemingly was the individual on security detail.

The man glanced at the image of a fenced enclosure. Inside, crowded around little barrels with small fires for warmth, were several hundred women and children. "Ah, those are the Paedagogi that we have caught living in the city. They were isolated for their own protection."

"Protection?" exclaimed the physician, "That's a bloody internment camp!"

"Is there a problem here?" asked Major Lorne after hearing the Doctor's distressed voice.

Beckett pointed at the screen, "They're imprisoning women and children Major. It's inhumane what they're doing."

A questioning look on his face the Major turned to the General. "Ah yes, the unfortunate side effects of this war. We placed them in this camp to protect them from our own people, they are less than understanding when it comes to the Paedagogi. I assure you Doctor they are given the best of care."

"Why don't you just send them back to their own country if you're not keeping them prisoner?"

"We have allowed those that have wished to go. However many felt that staying here would be a better life than what they had left originally."

Dr Beckett still looked disgusted. "Maybe it would ease the Doctor's mind if he had a chance to see the camp and the people there in person?" Lorne hoped that the compromise would prove to be sufficient.

"Of course," replied the General. "You are welcome to see and speak to whomever you desire. Our only request is," he paused looking slightly embarrassed, "If you could refrain from discussing the ring or the fact you are of Ancestral blood it would be appreciated. The ring is something that has not been revealed to most of the populace."

"Right, mum's the word," Beckett and one of the marines from Lorne's team left to investigate the camp.

"Now, shall we get back to the surveillance video?" The General guided Lorne back to what they had been examining before. "This was from an attack two days ago. A rebel group seems intent on destroying the ring." He pointed at the soldiers that entered the room to stop the rebels, "There, is that your man?"

Lorne squinted at the tall man wearing the navy blue uniform. From the dark shock of hair and his mannerisms, it was definitely the Colonel. He grinned, relieved to finally know that Sheppard was still alive, not that he had been in doubt about that fact, but seeing the man was reassuring. "That is Colonel Sheppard. Can we see him?"

"Ah, now if you are to continue watching the tape..." the General pointed back to the screen to show Lorne what happened next.

The Major swore quietly when he saw the gas canister thrown by the rebels, which resulted in the collapse of the guards and Sheppard. "They just walked out of here with him?"

"Regrettably we were not aware he had been at the scene until one of the guards regained consciousness. By then they had been gone for several hours."

"Can I have my men accompany yours in the search?"

The General hesitated and looked uncertain for a moment before speaking, "I am sorry Major but we cannot allow it since your people are unfamiliar with the area and may accidentally expose the ring to the public. The risks are too great."

Reluctantly Lorne nodded his head. Maybe later they could sneak out and do their own investigation.

* * *

"Hello," Dr Beckett smiled at a little girl that had been staring at him for several minutes now. 

She grinned, revealing that several of her teeth were missing. Beckett did a double take, any girl that age is bound to have teeth missing, but several other things about her appearance shot up red flags.

"Come here Lass, can you stick out your tongue for me?" Carson imitated his own instructions and the girl, giggling, complied. The doctor shone his pen light into her mouth, a frown developing on his face.

"What's up Doc?" said the marine that had accompanied him.

Thanking the girl with a gentle pat on the head Carson turned to the young man, "At first glance it appears most of the individuals here have been victim to serious malnourishment fairly recently."

The marine looked around critically studying the small groups milling about the camp. "I don't know, they look pretty healthy to me."

"Aye, they have been eating well for the past several weeks, but before that they were definitely neglected. That little girl," he nodded at the one he had examined, "had signs of recently recovering from scurvy. And if you look, most of the adolescent lads and lasses seem smaller than someone their age should be."

"Huh. So maybe we were being told the truth? They were being mistreated and are actually here for their own protection?"

Shrugging the physician peered into one of the small buildings that housed rows of cots. "It is possible. I am surprised to see that the conditions are not even close to what I was expecting."

"Kind of reminds me of Camp Cherokee," the marine said wistfully. Upon seeing Carson's confused look, he explained, "That was a summer camp my brother and I went to every summer for ten years. Great place. Water balloon fights, midnight raids, sneaking into the girls' camp…"

"Except you weren't forced to live there."

"Yeah, that would have sucked."

The two surveyed the grounds silently. With a sigh and a shake of his head, Beckett knew this was probably wide spread but hidden from the public as most such secrets were.

* * *

Several hours later, the Lantean team conferred with each other. The General had shown them to moderately decorated guest quarters obviously intended for visiting politicians and military brass. 

"So Dr McKay, what did you find?" asked Major Lorne pulling a chair up to a table and straddling it backwards. Rodney pulled out his scanner and stared at it for a few moments ignoring Lorne's question. "Dr McKay?"

"Shush," he hissed glaring at the Major. With a flourish, he punched a few buttons on the device in his hands and smiled triumphantly at the bewildered group. "What? I was checking for bugs. And you should all be happy to know I have created enough interference we should be able to talk without any fear of being overheard."

Beckett, looking exhausted, sat with his head supported by his hand. At Rodney's comment, he rolled his eyes. "Like that haven't already watched every bloody move we've made today."

"You're such a pessimist," muttered McKay. He turned to Lorne, "To answer your question Major, I found a considerable amount of interesting information. I'll spare you all the technical details since any explanation would just be wasted on you all…"

"Try me."

"Huh?" Rodney was thrown off guard by Lorne's comment.

It was Lorne's turn to roll his eyes, "Remember a few months ago when we were hunting for Ford on that planet? And you asked me what kind of training I had to go through to be prepared for a mission like this?" McKay nodded. "Did it ever occur to you that, aside from the enlisted guys, everyone on Atlantis has a bachelors degree or higher?"

"Actually with the GI bill a lot of us enlisted guys have degrees now too," added one of the marines.

"There you go," he gestured with his hand at the marine, "More educated people." He fixed McKay with a steady look, "Did you know that Colonel Sheppard has a degree in Mathematics? Or that I am a Geotechnical engineer?"

"I figured Sheppard had to studied math at some… geotechnical engineering? Really?" Dr McKay gave Lorne an appraising look. "So are you a member of ASCE, if you are-"

Lorne cut him off, "My point is, we understand a lot more than you realize. And I just thought I'd let you know since your condescending attitude was getting on my nerves." He grinned at McKay, "So what were you saying?"

A muffled snort made Rodney glare at Beckett who had his hand clamped over his mouth. "What are you looking at? I bet in Scotland the only thing you had to get your Phd was know how to tell the difference between a sheep and a human."

"Hey," Lorne rapped his knuckles on the table to get McKay's attention, "Doc, we need to know what you found."

With a final parting glare at Beckett, Rodney cleared his throat, "It seems that, uh, our _Ancestors_, managed to create a micro asteroid field. It's really cool actually. I'm guessing they obliterated a moon or a very large asteroid, but they basically surrounded the planet with fine dust and bits of asteroid about this big." He held up his fist to demonstrate the size.

"They did that so if one of the asteroids were to land on the planet it wouldn't mean global extinction?" said Lorne eager to support his claim as an educated man.

Reluctantly Rodney nodded; he did not seem to want to admit that Lorne was correct. "The reasons why the planet has been protected from the Wraith, are one: because the powder is magnetically charged forming a natural interference. Two: flying a ship into something like this would be essentially like trying to drive a car through a sand dune. You've got space between the particles, and they're capable of movement and shifting, but the quantity is just so great it would mean goodbye ship, hello spatula."

"And their stargate pretty much has a build in IDC, so they can't dial in," finished Lorne.

"Gentlemen, as excited as I am to have found a Wraith-free planet, are we sure we want to associate ourselves with these people?" Beckett frowned and looked over at the marine who had accompanied him to the internment camp. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but what good is a people currently having civil war?"

"Technically it's not a civil war," said Rodney automatically. "Generally a civil war implies they are part of the same country. And since each group has their own governments, and recognize each other as legitimate countries, I think it's safe to say this is definitely not a civil war."

"I don't bloody care what they call it, the only people on this world that has a decent quality of life is the military and government workers. They've segregated themselves on the basis of a tiny gene for heaven's sake! I'd like to think that we are beyond this kind of bigotry."

"Well what do you propose we do about it? Tell them about the Stargate and treat as many people with the gene therapy as possible?" Rodney looked at Beckett expectantly.

"Aye, it's a start."

Dr McKay was starting to become as agitated as Carson. He stood up and pointed a finger at the doctor, "Fine. But I won't be the poor sap to inform these people that what they have believed for hundreds of years is a load of bull."

"Docs!" exclaimed Major Lorne. He stood up and looked threateningly at the two. "Let's come to this bridge when we cross it. At this point we need to get the Colonel back. Agreed?"

The two scowled at each other like reprimanded children, but they both nodded.

Lorne sat down in his chair and rubbed his hand over his face. How the hell did the Colonel do this on a daily basis? Either the guy knew something he didn't, or he was just as mental as these two.

* * *

Tara breathed a sigh of relief as she flopped into a chair. Next to her Sheppard was already sitting, his hands holding his head and being unusually quiet. She was positive they had not been followed, but nonetheless this development was cause for a meeting of her fellow rebels.

" Tara, where's Fran?" asked Mendel, the leader of their group.

She sighed and said quietly, "He didn't make it."

The group fell silent for a few moments. Fran had been an important member of the group. Certainly the smartest of all of them, he had been the schemer of the group coming up with their many plans and handling most of the technical details.

Sheppard spoke for the first time, "We need to act soon if you want to do this. The longer we wait, the more time we're giving everyone else to figure out what is going on." His bloodshot eyes scanned over the group, "Fran and I came up with a pretty decent plan last night. I say we stick to that and plan on tomorrow morning to go ahead."

"What are we going to do about the explosives?" asked Mendel. "Fran was the one putting those together."

"I'm pretty sure I can rig something that will work just as well."

The group remained skeptical, but the agreed as there was no other choice. Mendel stood and reached out to pat Sheppard on the back. "Ah, and by the way, Tara filled us in on your situation. Sorry about gassing you back there, but things were getting a little chaotic, and with you actually shooting at us we naturally defended ourselves."

"Eh, no worries. Worse things could have happened," Sheppard shrugged. He stood and stretched, his headache had nearly vanished. Cautiously he peered out of the window, "What we really need to watch for are those guys that came after us. I don't think they followed us, but they seemed pretty well trained, so I don't know."

* * *

Colonel Rafal grinned at his men, "I think we have got them." He started to put away the parabolic microphone they had brought for this very purpose. "We will wait until tomorrow. I have a feeling that they are on to something big. Something we shall want to see for ourselves." 


	14. When Lanteans Go Bad

**_A/N: _**_Next chapter is up! A brief note about my decision to make Lorne a Geotechnical engineer in the previous chapter. In the first episode of SG-1 he was in (Enemy Mine, I think was the name) he was helping set up an mining site. Since it seemed to be an scientific team, and because he also seemed not aquainted with death (he lost his lunch), I just figured he probably was an engineer or something. And since geotechnical is a fancy way of saying they play with dirt, I used that ;-)_

_Enjoy!  
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**Chapter Fourteen: When Lanteans Go Bad **

Mendel had managed to retrieve Sheppard's uniform from the apartment they had fled early that morning. He arrived ashen faced and crestfallen.

"Jan, here's the uniform," the man looked at his hands for a moment before meeting Sheppard's eye, "Fran was still there. Just staring up at the ceiling."

"We should go get him after this and pay him the proper respects," Tara said softly. She put an arm around Mendel and gave him a comforting hug. "You'll be ok, we all will. One of us was bound to die, it's inevitable when we oppose something as powerful as the government. Fran knew that too."

Sheppard looked at the grief on Tara's face as she comforted Mendel. He felt his throat tighten when he realized that in a few weeks she would be mourning his death too. The thought overwhelmed him and he had to look away from the two friends. He didn't want to be the cause of such pain and loss. It was not likely he would have a chance to evade his prognosis it was only a matter of time.

Tara looked up and caught the look on Sheppard's face. She gave him a shrewd look before smiling at Mendel and releasing him from the hug. "We should get ready to go."

"Of course," Mendel glanced between the two catching the looks, but not understanding. He turned and left, closing the door behind him.

"Was that a look of self-pity on your face Jan?" Tara reeled on him unexpectedly making him take an involuntary step back. "That's just as good as giving up."

"Whoa, I'm not giving up. I don't have a clue what 'look' you saw, but self-pity wasn't it," there was no way she would let him get away with the actual answer, that he was feeling bad for her. He sighed and began to put the uniform on, sneezing when lingering smell of the noxious gas that had been used irritated his nose. "Phew, maybe we should have aired this out first."

"It'll have to do," Tara was also dressing, but she had the typical uniform of one of the guards at the complex. Hopefully she'd remain undetected, ready to bail him out when the time came. She turned and eyed him deciding not to keep pushing the conversation down the self-pity path, "Shall we do this?"

* * *

Rodney stretched making his spine crack. Next, he twisted his neck, popping that as well. The lab assistant sitting next to him shuddered each time he did this. "Dr McKay, does that not hurt?" 

Shrugging Rodney leaned back over his laptop, "Maybe if I wasn't given a slab of rock to sleep on last night, which consequently made me toss and turn all night, my back may be in better condition." The assistant stared at Rodney, obviously not used to being insulted.

McKay yawned just to prove how tired his was. In actuality, he had discovered the local coffee, which resembled the Turkish variety on earth, which also happened to be his favorite due to its massive amounts of caffeine. He had been drinking large mugs of the concentrated drink since early in the morning, so he was anything but tired right now.

The lab assistant seemed to be getting nervous by the doctor's constant drumming of his fingers and fidgeting. Seeing the man drain the last bit of his drink, he grabbed the cup, "How about I get you some more Dr McKay?" He didn't care that McKay was so saturated with caffeine he'd be up for a month.

"Sure," McKay said without paying much attention to the man. Before the assistant could make it out of the door however, he seemed to have changed his mind. "Hey, lab techie, or whatever your name is, never mind, I'll get my own." He took his mug back and slipped out of the lab to find the break room.

As he wandered the hall, McKay was glad that he had been able to convince Elizabeth to have them pretend to be Ancients. The freedom they had given him in the lab was astounding. Except for the fact they were not allowed out of the complex, the Lantean group had been given security badges and access to nearly every section. Currently he was still determining the extent of shielding the asteroid field provided, and how to duplicate it.

"Rodney," the lilting accent identified the speaker as Dr Beckett almost immediately. McKay spun around to find the doctor trying to catch up with him.

" Carson, looking for more assistance with the Amnesty Intergalactic front?"

The physician frowned, "No Rodney, I was coming to find you so that I could let you know Major Lorne is going for a walk," he leaned forward and said in a low voice, "outside the chicken coop."

"Why kind of cryptic mumbo jumbo are you talking about? I don't even think they have chickens here."

"For a genius you can really be daft, Lorne is going out to look for Sheppard."

"What are you doing telling me this in the middle of a hallway? All this cloak and dagger business doesn't suit you. Maybe you should keep your day job, at least with that the nonsense you speak fits right in with your voodoo practice."

Beckett had tuned out the rambling doctor as his trained eye had caught his constant fidgeting and flushed face, telltale signs of large amounts of ingested caffeine. He glanced down at the mug in Rodney's hand. "Rodney."

"-and to think I trusted you to point a dangerous piece of equipment at my head and essentially fry a part of it. Well, if you hadn't done that then I probably wouldn't recognize my own sister…"

"Rodney," he said a bit louder.

"For all intents and purposes you could call it a death ray really. Not that you'd actually be able to kill anyone with it, just severely-"

"Rodney!" Beckett grabbed the man's shoulders.

"What!" replied McKay obviously annoyed at being interrupted.

They both were silent and smiled at two soldiers that glanced at them curiously, as they walked by. When the two men had turned at the end of the hall Carson continued. "Egad man! Get a hold of yourself. How much of that stuff have you had to drink?" He released Rodney and pointed at the mug.

"Only…" he trailed off and stared open-mouthed at something behind Carson.

Beckett snapped his fingers to try to get the man's attention back, but was unsuccessful. "What are you…" he turned to see what had so engrossed Rodney and also froze when he saw it.

Colonel Sheppard, hands in his pockets, was strolling down the hall towards them. He was a little paler than normal and seemed to rub his eyes a lot, but it was most definitely him. As he walked by them, giving a small nod of his head, Carson saw a flicker of fear in his eyes, but no recognition.

"Colonel!" Rodney blurted out.

Sheppard looked back at the pair but kept walking at a slightly faster pace. Several guards that had just turned the corner stopped him abruptly. "Come with us please," they frogmarched him back in the direction they had come.

Rodney and Carson gave each other a panicked look before taking off after the group.

* * *

Sheppard glanced tiredly around the interrogation room. As such rooms went, it was fairly typical. Painted a light green with one wall nearly completely covered by a mirror, behind which people were most certainly watching him sit in the hard chair. General Borsen had interrogated him briefly, asking whom he was working for, and what he was doing here, but he had been surprisingly 'unpersuasive'. 

He heard the door open and shut behind him, "I already told you, I'm not telling you a damned thing." Twisting to glare at the General, he was startled to see the two men he had passed earlier in the hallway. "Uh, I guess the same goes for you two."

The two moved around to sit at the other end of the table, one placed a computer on the table and the other just looked at him with a critical eye. "Well, how about we tell you some things then?" Sheppard raised an eyebrow, the man spoke funny.

"So who are you?"

"I am Dr Carson Beckett, and this Dr Rodney McKay. Do you remember us at all?"

"Why should I be able to remember you?" He glared at the two, "You better not be the guys who gave me the amnesia in the first place or you're gonna wish you didn't come here."

"Heavens no Lad! What gave you that idea?" Sheppard just stared back at them.

Dr McKay sighed, "Just give it up Carson. If he's retained any of his smart ass personality he's not going to 'blink' as the Colonel so eloquently put it at one time or another." He turned the computer around so that Sheppard could see the screen. "This is your personnel file, recognize it?"

"Well that's definitely me," he pointed at the writing on the screen, "But I've got no idea what that says."

"Ok, how about this?" He pulled back the computer and punched a few buttons before pushing it back.

_On the screen was Dr McKay, two strange women and hiding badly behind some kind of control panel was a man with huge hair and himself. Without warning, the picture swiveled around to display a disheveled looking man wearing thick glasses. "When Lanteans Go Bad, Part One," he said in a heavily accented voice. _

_The picture swung back around to reveal the man with the large hair, and himself holding something behind their backs. _

_"Hey, Radek, you aren't taping us right now are you?" said the video McKay. _

_Off-screen the accented voice replied, "No, I am just testing the light meter." _

_The camera suddenly zoomed in on Sheppard and the man with the hair, the looks on their faces indicated they were up to something. Shouting out war cries, they charged the group, each brandishing two cans of something. String erupted from the cans covering the shocked people. They both took extra pains to completely cover Dr McKay, who had fallen on the ground trying to get the stuff off. After pausing for a moment to regroup, they rushed the camera obscuring the lens with the string. _

Sheppard sat back in his chair in shock. He knew he should know what was going on. That definitely was him on the screen.

McKay took the computer back and stared the Colonel down. "Your name is Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard. Ring any bells?"

Rubbing his temples Sheppard shook his head. "I don't know."

"Are you alright John?" asked Dr Beckett. He had noticed the way he was massaging his temples.

"Headache, but that's it."

Suddenly appearing very concerned, the doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out some kind of scanner. Sheppard jerked his head back when he approached, wary of what the strange speaking man would do.

"It's just a wee scan son. You've had dozens of them before," Carson looked down at the screen while Sheppard reluctantly allowed him to continue. "Bloody hell, John you're in quite a state."

"You're telling me? I've been having these for three weeks now, trust me, I know just what kind of 'state' I'm in," Sheppard looked at his hands morosely, he did not know if he wanted to let them know what the prognosis was. With a sigh, he realized it wouldn't change anything. At least he was keeping everyone occupied meaning their attention wasn't on the Ring Room. "What I know is someone went poking around my head, it caused my amnesia and scar tissue to begin building up, which is cutting blood flow to some areas of my brain, hence the headaches. No one who has had this happen has lived past ten weeks."

Rodney raised an eyebrow and looked over at Beckett, prompting him to say something. "Now, don't be getting depressed because of this. Let's just pack up our stuff and head back to Atlantis."

"Atlantis?"

"Ah, yeah, we probably should have told you about that. Atlantis, home of the 'Ancestral Gods', just step through the Stargate and presto, we're home!"

Sheppard shrugged, "So what's a Stargate?"

"You know, big round thing," he said exasperated.

The blood drained from Sheppard's face so face Carson thought he'd keel over right there. "What is it Colonel?"

"I've…" he trailed off. If he told these people about the plan then more than likely his friends would all be killed or captured. He'd have to find Tara and let her know. "I, uh, it's nothing."


	15. Gunfight in the Gateroom

**_A/N: _**_Hello! It's been ages since I added another chapter! And I feel terrible for not getting this chapter up sooner, so I thought I would post this and then tell you all about my Joe encounter in April. I could write a book on my fun with him, but I'll since I will probably digress and be long winded anyways, I'll just put my thoughts on meeting him at the end of this chapter so I don't keep you all from reading what I worked so hard on._

_Anyways, again, I am sooooo sorry for not getting something up sooner... real life sucks you know. I do have more coming, hopefully not several months away though. I hope you all enjoy! _

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**Chapter Fifteen: Gunfight in the Gateroom  
**

Colonel Rafal and his team tailed the rebel group through a complicated network of drainage pipes that ran beneath the city. When he placed his hand in something putrid smelling for the second time, he silently cursed himself for his over zealousness. If he had stuck to the mission, would be done and over with it now, he would be at home, and his wife telling him about her day.

"Sir," whispered the man on point. He motioned for the team to stop, "They are several hundred feet in front of us, but they have stopped moving."

Rafal nodded and carefully peered down the pipe, he couldn't see anything. "Where are they?" The point man looked back and frowned.

"They were right there a moment ago, there must be a way out up ahead."

"Come on." A small sliver of light danced on the trickle of water at their feet making the Colonel look up. "They probably went through here," he pointed at the covered hole.

One of the men pulled out a miniature fiber optic camera that he slipped through the small hole on the cover. His small handheld screed displayed the rebels as they secured the room. Pivoting his view the man gasped when the massive ring came into view. "What is that?"

"The Ancestral ring," Rafal recognized it immediately from when he had last seen it as a young Major. "A decade ago it was in our possession, but over the last hundred years it has exchanged sides countless times." He smiled, "Perhaps because of our actions we will have the ring once more."

The men looked at each other knowing the religious implications of the ring. For generations the story of how the Ancients had created the two races on their planet had been passed down. The ring was the central part of the story, the gateway between the planet and the heavens; however it had always been just a story. Only Colonel Rafal knew it truly was a gateway.

"We will wait here until they come back, and then eliminate them. Enderson will be close by."

* * *

Secretly Major Lorne was glad that he wouldn't have to sneak out like a recalcitrant teen to search for Sheppard. He had left McKay and Beckett in charge of the Colonel's care while he arranged to gate home. 

"Alright boys and girls," the Major let himself into the guest quarters where the marines and rest of the group were waiting. "Shall we go home?" He noted that Sheppard seemed a little nervous; he leg was bouncing up and down almost more than the caffeinated McKay's was.

Lorne kept an eye on the Colonel the entire walk to the 'ring room', as the locals called it. There was something very wrong. His hand rested on the stunner strapped to his legs. The weapon had been all they were allowed as visitors. Despite that fact he was glad he had it.

Two officers greeted them at the doors to the ring room. "Dr McKay, we were informed that you would be providing us with the address that you need dialed?"

"Of course," McKay followed the two into the room.

Sheppard hesitated outside the door. "Is everything all right Colonel?" asked Beckett.

"Yeah."

"If it's the gate travel, you've got nothin' to worry about," added Lorne, hoping that was the reason the Colonel had such a wary look in his eyes.

The Colonel shrugged not explaining any further and pushed open the doors to the room. Rodney was inside the glass enclosure bent over the computer equipment speaking rapidly with one of the men sitting there. Glancing around the room Lorne spotted a drainage grate was lying slightly askew. Growing more alarmed, he pulled his stunner out of its holster and looked for any other indication something was wrong.

Rodney noticed the movement out of the corner of his eye. He pounded on the glass and yelled, trying to get the group's attention before all hell broke loose.

"Get down," ordered Lorne, he roughly grabbed Dr Beckett and pushed him behind cover. Sheppard had already instinctively dropped low and was now peering out trying to locate the enemy

Gunfire echoed through the room, a series of bullets sprayed the glass booth McKay was in. Terrified he dove under one of the desks as the glass shattered and rained down on him. The two officers, their survival instincts not as honed as McKay's, both collapsed with surprised looks on their faces.

"Why are they shooting at us?" murmured Sheppard to himself.

"Who are _they_?" Lorne glared at Sheppard.

The Colonel pressed his lips together in a thin line and looked concerned. "The group I was a part of here. They know we are coming though, so I don't know why they'd be shooting at us."

Lorne figured he'd ask the rest of his questions later, for now he needed to figure out what to do. He looked around the box in front of him and saw a group of heavily armed soldiers holed up in a corner. A second group of individuals that were not in a uniform were in the opposite corner shooting at the military group. He leaned over to Sheppard, "Which group are you friends?"

"The ones over there, but…" he pointed at the uniformed group, "I know who they are too. I think they're trying to kill me." Sheppard jerked his head behind the box just in time to avoid a bullet that impacted on the wall behind his head.

"Alright," Lorne turned to the marines crouching behind him, "Three of you try to make your way over to that group," he gestured towards the people Sheppard said he knew. "You," he pointed at the fourth marine, "stay with the Colonel and Dr Beckett. I'm going to try and get to Dr McKay."

Keeping low, Lorne sprinted towards the glass enclosure with the computer equipment and Rodney inside. Careful not to put his hand in any of the glass shards covering the floor he peered under the desks.

"What took you so long?" Rodney's voice was an octave higher than normal.

"I was a bit busy trying to ensure the safety of the rest of the group."

"The rest of the group! I'm probably the single most valuable person in this entire mission, you're supposed to-"

Lorne cut McKay off, "You know, you really know how to piss a guy off. Now is not the time or place. Can you dial the gate and get the IDC ready?"

"Fine," muttered Rodney with a scowl.

"Thanks," Lorne slapped the scientist on the back a little harder than a friendly pat should have been. "Keep low, I'll be back to get you." He glanced out of the booth taking stock of the situation. Sheppard, Beckett and the marine had all taken up arms. The physician was the only one who seemed uncomfortable with the stunner he had been given and was doing a terrible job aiming it.

Still keeping low, the Major sprinted back towards the group. Not two steps out and he felt himself falling face first to the ground. He didn't know why he couldn't get up, but as he moved the pain radiating through his lower back and leg told him he had more than likely been shot.

* * *

_**A/N:** So my first run in with Joe resulted in me yelling at him... I had been running late (loooong night, convention parties and such), and was scheduled to have a photo taken with him. I show up and he's leaving! So I yell after him that there was no way he was leaving until I got my photo. Poor guy was a little bewildered (ends up he was a little hung over, naughty Joe!) The situation got sorted out, I apologized for yelling at him (which he didn't even remember, even though I was being pretty loud…) and I got to wrap my arms around him and his around me and we got our photo taken. _

_Then it took forever to get the photo printed out so I had to wait at the autograph table for over an hour to get it signed. That was just terrible, waiting there with Joe for that long of a time with nothing to do but chat... ended up watching his stuff for him while he ate lunch before I got my stuff sighned. Good times...  
_

_Now, the pineapple story begins… if you want to get a funny reaction from him, present him with a pineapple and tell him that it reminded you of his hair. Hehe…just let him know Pineapple girl from _ _Denver__ said he'd like it. From there I managed to find out about how he got arrested on the 4th of July, in his boxer shorts for speeding on a mountain bike. I guess we'd both had wild nights previously so we joked about being in the jail cells next to each other. He went to school in Denver so he had lots of local stories and stuff.  
_

_Overall he's a super nice guy, really really really good looking in person, and has a crazy sense of humor. Ah, if only I can find me a man like that I'd be set…  
_


	16. Rodney to the Rescue

**A/N: **_I am so glad you all decided to stick with me despite the fact that I took my time getting the previous post up. Just so you all know, I do have this story planned out, all the way to the end, and I intend on finishing it. I make myself finish the fic I am working on before I put up anything new. And since I have another fic I am dying to put up here I'm working hard to get this one finished... not that I don't love this story too, but you know how those rabid plot bunnies can be. Just a warning, I will be very busy over the next few weeks, as I am finally launching my small buisness, so wish me luck and I'll try to keep the chapters coming!  
_

_As for meeting Joe. It was wonderful! I'm sad I can't post pictures here, otherwise I would, just so I could show you all. I'm just glad I got over my fear of celebrities!_

_Again, I'm thankful for your faithful reviews! Here's another chapter for your reading pleasure. Poor Lorne, but he gets glorious morphine so I guess it's not too bad.   
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**Chapter Sixteen: Rodney to the Rescue **

From Rodney's vantage point, he had an almost macabre view of the bullet hitting Lorne in the lower back, and the man toppling to the floor. Adrenaline surged through his system as he surveyed the scene. All of the Marines, save for one, were on the far side of the gate, too far away to come to his rescue and too busy trying to quell the fighting. The closest marine was with Sheppard both trying to defend their position and oblivious to what was going on behind them. And Carson was inching towards the fallen Lorne. It seemed Rodney was the only one who could see the two soldiers that had crawled behind the stargate and were getting into a position that would be lethal for all of the Lanteans.

The scientist crouched once more behind the computer console and closed his eyes, steeling himself for what he knew he would be doing. After only a few seconds, he stood back up, careful to keep his head low, and began typing furiously on the keyboard of the computer consol before him.

"You guys owe me big time," he muttered before looking up and checking the position of the two men that had been creeping around the gate. Forcing himself not to hesitate he hit the enter button on the keyboard, and watched in horrified fascination as the event horizon exploded from the gate and enveloped the two men that had been standing in front of it, leaving only two pairs of smoking boots.

Rodney keyed in his code on the IDC and turned on his radio, "Liz, we're coming in hot." Not waiting for his response he shouted at the doctor who was tending to the fallen Major. "Carson!" Dr Beckett looked up from Lorne and over at Rodney. "Get Lorne through the gate, I'll get everyone else."

Carson looked unsure for a moment, but he nodded and motioned for the remaining marine to help him pull the injured man through the gate. Rodney watched them, wincing in sympathy for Lorne, who had finally passed out from the pain. He put his hand up to his radio headset to notify the marines on the other side of the room that they needed to leave, but he was interrupted by the doors of the room flying open. Startled he turned to see General Borsen enter with nearly fifty men behind him.

"Dr McKay, I suggest you leave now." The General indicated towards the gate with a steely glare.

Like a deer in headlights Rodney was frozen for a moment, unsure of what to do next. "Uh wait a minute, what about the rest?"

"We will allow all of them, save for your Colonel Sheppard and obviously the insurgents, to leave safely."

Perturbed by the way the General had decided to change the arrangement they had agreed on Rodney did the only thing he could really think of and started to yell at the man before him. "What the Hell do you mean? Why can't Sheppard come back now? You're an idiot, you know that?"

"Doctor, calm down. We will merely keep the Colonel so that we can question him more completely about this. He has been involved in terrorist activities on this planet and we want to know how he has been involved."

"No."

"Pardon me doctor?"

Red-faced, Rodney could barely contain his anger. Why was it, on every planet they went to no one followed through on their agreements? "I said no. What, are you hard of hearing now too? Colonel Sheppard is coming with me and the rest of the marines right now." He glared at the General as he keyed his radio, "Everyone get the Hell out of here. Grab Sheppard on the way out too." His eyes widened when the General leveled his weapon at Rodney.

"I'm sorry I can't allow you to do that. If you will not leave peacefully I will authorize the use of force on your group."

Opening his mouth to protest he snapped it shut again and squeezed his eyes shut when a bullet from the other side of the room impacted with the General's head. Shakily he used his sleeve to remove the bulk of matter that had landed on his face before taking off towards the crate he had left Sheppard hiding behind.

"Rodney, what's going on?" The voice in his ear startled him.

"This is really not a good time Elizabeth." He ducked behind the crate and came face to face with Sheppard who had acquired a weapon and was firing at the group of enemy soldiers on the far side of the room. Rodney grabbed Sheppard's shoulder, "We need to go, now."

Firing off a few rounds before turning to the physicist Sheppard shook his head, "No. I can't leave them here to get killed or captured."

"Well, that's not our problem. We're leaving."

Sheppard narrowed his eyes at Rodney, something that would normally frighten the man, but he was too wound up from the fighting to care. "You go. I don't care anymore about getting fixed. I owe these people a lot, I'm not going to just up and leave when they need me."

Rodney eyed the gun Sheppard had inadvertently pointed at him. For a moment he considered leaving and coming back for Sheppard, but the thought was fleeting, the man had saved his life countless times, and talk about owing someone. "Damnit Sheppard, I hate you sometimes you know that?" He raised his stunner and shot his friend point blank. With a low groan his pulled the unconscious colonel over his shoulders. Trusting that the remaining marines were capable enough to know it was time to leave, he staggered to his feet and moved as quickly as he could to the gate and practically jumped through the even horizon.

Relief flooded his system when he emerged from the gate, and he collapsed to his knees loosing his grip on the Colonel.

"Rodney! Are you alright?" The straggler marines exited the gate before it shut off and Elizabeth joined them as they caught their breaths.

"I should be glad Sheppard likes the undernourished look. Otherwise I don't think we would have made it."

"Why is he unconscious?" Elizabeth knelt besides the Colonel and placed a concerned hand on his shoulder.

Rodney rubbed his knees as he stood up, more than likely they were going to bruise. "Oh, Mr. I'm-too-loyal-to-leave-my-friends refused to go, so I stunned him." He placed his hands on the small of his back and leaned backwards, wincing as his spine popped. "I think I may have pulled something."

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows in surprise, "Thank you for bringing him back."

Too preoccupied with the pain in his back Rodney waved his hand dismissively.

* * *

Carson rubbed his tired eyes. Since his return he hadn't had a chance to get some much needed rest. Major Lorne's injury hadn't been nearly as severe as he had feared, but it had still required surgery to remove the slug that had lodged itself in the Major's backside. The poor man had since been teased relentlessly about literally being a pain in the ass. He took it all in stride though, and even seemed to be enjoying the attention, however that could be the morphine drip talking as well. 

John was still worrying him however. He needed to get a better idea of the extent of the scarring in his brain before proceeding with the radiation therapy, but he needed to get the headaches under control first.

The doctor rose from his seat and shuffled to the foot of the Colonel's bed. He was concerned as he had to yet wake up after being stunned and it had been nearly eight hours now. Carson would give him until the morning until he became truly concerned.

"Carson?"

The voice behind him made him start in surprise, but he smiled when he saw it was Dr Zelenka. "Radek, and to what do I owe the pleasure?"

The man shrugged, "One of the nurses radioed me."

"Oh, really now? When was this?" Carson was curious as to why he hadn't been approached first by this mystery nurse.

"Just a few minutes ago, actually."

Keying on his earpiece he radioed Kelly Reynolds, the only nurse currently on duty. "Kelly luv, can you come here for a moment?"

She emerged from the supply room carrying several boxes of gloves. "Oh Carson, I found where the stash of the large sized gloves had been hidden." Looking up over the stack of boxes she carried she noticed Radek. "Dr Zelenka, I didn't mean for you to come rushing up here when I radioed you."

"I didn't feel like listening to Rodney complain about his backside," he grinned and shrugged his shoulders.

Kelly noticed the questioning look on Carson's face. Looking sheepish she pulled a disk out of her pocket. "I was trying to figure out what to do with Colonel Sheppard's clothing, and discovered this in one of its pockets. You had dozed off at you desk and I didn't want to disturb you."

"I did no such thing!" Carson said defensively, he thought back trying to determine if he truly had dozed off.

Kelly raised her eyebrow, "Well it's a good thing I took a photo for posterity's sake." She grinned wickedly as she handed the disk to Zelenka. "I contacted you instead of Dr McKay, because I was afraid he may take it as an invitation to whine about every ache and pain."

"I do not blame you," replied Radek. He took the disk and looked it over. "Well I am curious to know what is on this; I will keep you dated up on this."

Carson smiled at the strange wording, but did not correct his friend.

"I have heard rumors, that you toured some kind of gulag before finding the Colonel?" Zelenka absentmindedly spun the disk on one of his fingers.

"Aye, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it that. More like one of those camps the Americans ran during the second World War." Carson shook his head sadly, "I'd love to do something, but I haven't a clue what that could be."

"It's like the saying, 'Ignorance is bliss'. In Czech Republic, so much censorship when I was little. I didn't know that things could be better. So I was happy until I actually went into school and learned about the real world. Perhaps they just need all the facts?"

He had forgotten that Radek had grown up in a country with constant conflict. The scientist probably knew directly how many of these people felt. "If you could, I'd love to discuss this with you more. However I have a feeling Nurse Reynolds here is going to sedate me if I don't head back to my quarters soon." Carson glanced over at Kelly who smile mischievously.

Radek nodded, "See you at breakfast then."

* * *

John lay on his bed listening to the conversation quietly. Hoping nothing had happened to his friends, he knew he had to get back to the planet. Carefully he opened his eyes and peered around for the nurse. She had her back turned and was administering some kind of medication to the man that had been shot in the behind. As quietly as possible he pushed off his covers and slid off the bed. A tug on his skin of the crook of his arm reminded him of the IV still connected to him and he removed it, biting his lip as the tape holding it in place tore out a good chunk of hair on his arm. 

"Colonel Sheppard!" The nurse had spotted him. "Sir, you need to get back in bed." She approached him and put a soft hand on his back, attempting to guide him back.

An instinct he had not known existed within him kicked in and he grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back. His other hand covered her mouth. "I don't want to hurt you," he kept his voice low as he whispered into her ear, "but I have to get back."

Kelly nodded.

"Now, I take my hand away, are you going to call for anyone?"

She shook her head.

"Ok. But before I do, this is what I want. Tell me where the armory is, and how to use that gate thing." Slowly he removed his hand, plucking her headset off her ear as well.

The nurse gasped for a breath. "Go down the hall to the first transporter on the left. Step into the transporter and tap the dot closest to the central tower. Get out of the transporter and go down the hall until you reach some stairs. From there go down two levels. The armory is right there. As for the stargate, I don't have a clue."

John had inched towards the patient she had just been working on before noticing him. A filled syringe, with what he assumed to be pain killers, lay on a tray next to the bed. He used his free hand to pick it up. The nurse tried to jerk away, knowing what he was going to do, but he was expecting it and held her tightly. Keeping his grasp around her shoulders tight he used his teeth to remove the cap from the needle before injecting the contents of the syringe into her bicep. A few moments later she sagged and went limp, barely hanging on to consciousness. Picking her up he lay her in his own bed, and draped the sheet over her hoping that they would think he still occupied the bed until any closer inspection.

"Alright, now to the armory." Trying to be as inconspicuous as possible in the scrubs he was wearing he darted down the hallway, hoping the nurse had given him the correct directions.


	17. A Failed Escape

**_A/N: _**_Yay! Finally a new chapter! Sorry it took so long to get put up, life has been really really busy. School, traveling, and getting faulty organs removed takes up a lot of my time. But I've been back and writing with a vengeance now, so this story will be over soon! I expect only a few more chapters and that's going well for now, so hopefully it won't take long.  
_

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**Chapter Seventeen: A Failed Escape**

Dr Nuar squinted at the clock on her bedside table. It was much too early for someone to be calling her. "Hand me the receiver please," she groggily asked her husband, who had answered the call originally. "Hello?"

"Dr Kazia Nuar, I am transferring a call from Minister Aangd to you, one moment please." There was a moment of silence before the sharp voice of the minister was heard over the line. "We need to begin deployment of your program immediately."

"Minister, is that wise?" Dr Nuar was completely awake now. "The mortality rate is still..."

"I am aware of that doctor. We have a team that has been captured in the act of aggression and the government is now on high alert in the event of retaliation. This is our best chance to end this war."

The physician was silent. A cold knot had formed in her stomach at the prospect of her creation killing people based merely on their genetic makeup. However, it was their best chance of protecting themselves from certain annihilation. Her voice was soft, "Of course Minister, I will be at my lab within the hour, I will keep you updated." Dr Nuar hung up the receiver and sighed, hanging her head despondently.

"What did she have to say?" said her husband as he pushed back the blankets so that he could get out of bed.

Copying her husband's actions, Kazia stretched. "The Minister has ordered me to prepare my virus for deployment."

He frowned, "Then I need to get going so that I may play my part."

The doctor smiled sadly, "I'll give you as much time as I can."

"A few hours should be sufficient."

**₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪**

John was grateful for the late hour, it meant the halls were nearly deserted. The adrenaline surge that had got him out of the infirmary had left him feeling drained and he questioned the wisdom of leaving his IV bag behind. They had laced the fluid with something that had been keeping his headache at bay, but now tendrils of pain were creeping into his temples and threatening to obscure his vision. Although the pain was cancelled out by his desperate need to get back and make sure Tara was ok.

When he arrived at the armory, its door was closed and he feared it was locked and everything was for naught. On a whim he touched the glowing panel on the side of the door, silently praying for it to open. Startled when the door did just that, he stepped back as if expecting someone to jump out at him. When no one did he peered into the room overjoyed to see the rows and rows of weapons and personal armor. Guns and explosives had been one of the few things that had remained in his addled mess of a memory.

Several minutes later, after finding a spare uniform that fit him, and suiting up, appropriately armed and ready to take on all of Atlantis he emerged from the armory. For a moment he had an urge to dress down whoever was in charge for leaving such a vital room unguarded, however the thought made him chuckle from the sheer irony of it. Supposedly he was in charge in this, yet here he was, stealing his own equipment.

"Sheppard, what are you doing?" The deep voice made him jump and he found himself facing a massive chest. Looking up he smiled uncertainly at the man with the long hair.

"Um, hi."

The large man nonchalantly took a bite out of the pastry he was holding, a small glob of jelly was left on his chin. "Aren't you supposed to be in the infirmary or something?" he said around the food in his mouth.

John took a step back, turned, and ran as fast as he could away from what he perceived to be a threat. As he turned a corner he chanced a look over his shoulder, the man had stuffed the rest of the pastry in his mouth and was in hot pursuit.

The surge of adrenaline was back. Using to aide in his escape John tried to pick up his pace and outrun his pursuer, but from the sound of the heavy boots behind him the man was still gaining.

Several hundred feet down the hall John saw a balcony, beyond that there was something that suspiciously looked like the ring. Nearly there he glanced once more over his shoulder only to see the big man aim a gun at him and pull the trigger.

**₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪**

Carson glared at the still form of Sheppard for the millionth time that day. He had gotten about an hour of sleep before being wakened by Teyla at his door. The idiotic Colonel had drugged his nurse, taken off down the hall and was stunned by Ronon. Fortunately Nurse Reynolds was fine; the syringe had been filled with a weak muscle relaxant for some spasms Lorne had been experiencing. Had it been filled with morphine she probably would be dead. He shuddered at the thought the Colonel was desperate enough to do something like that.

Kelly had performed admirably however. She had given the Colonel directions using the busiest halls as his route hoping he would be discovered. A few minutes later she had managed to drag herself out of the bed and to a radio where she had sent an almost unintelligible message for assistance.

"So is he awake yet?" Rodney strolled towards Sheppard's bed and gave the unconscious man an appraising look.

"I would think you would be able to answer such an obvious question." Beckett joined McKay.

"Ouch, such a cunning barb, I don't know if I can come up with a retort to such brilliance," Rodney rolled his eyes.

Carson picked up Sheppard's chart and lightly smacked Rodney on the back of the head with it. "Never insult a physician in his native environment, or you may find yourself strapped down like the Colonel." Ducking his head he looked back at the chart attempting to hide his small smile.

"Fine," Rodney waved his hand dismissively, "I'll play nice. But the moment I see you out of the infirmary I'm making you sit in the chair while I run diagnostics." He smiled when the doctor visibly paled. "So why don't you zap Sheppard's brain right now?"

With a sigh Beckett reached over to Sheppard's IV and adjusted the drip, "As easy as it would make things, I need to run some tests with him awake first. Don't you remember that from when you were in his position?"

"Not really, I think the fact you microwaved my brain may have something to do with that."

"Do I sense a wee bit of bitterness in your voice Rodney?" Beckett grinned at the man's sullen look.

Rodney opened his mouth to reply but was stopped by Zelenka's voice over his headset.

"Rodney, I have something you need to see."

"Trouble Rodney?" inquired Beckett after the physicist had replied to Radek he would be there in a moment.

There was no reply as McKay walked out of the infirmary.

**₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪**

"Dammit Radek, what were you doing all night? You look like you're really hung over or… wait a second, that's not it is it? Where'd you get the booze?" Rodney blew into the lab startling the bleary eyed Czech.

He looked up from his laptop, his glasses did nothing to hide his red rimmed and bloodshot eyes that had resulted from lack of sleep. "Look what I have found," he pointed at the screen and pushed back from the table to give Rodney room to see.

Skeptical Rodney scanned over the information that was displayed. A spark of interest blooming on his face as he read over the data before him. "Where'd you get this?"

"The Colonel had a disk in his pocket. A nurse found it and gave it to me last night." Zelenka ran a hand through his mussed up hair and yawned. "I did not think it would be important, but it seems Sheppard was involved in espionage on that planet."

"You know," Rodney stared thoughtfully at the computer screen, "this information could be really useful. Especially if we use it right."

Zelenka raised an eyebrow, "You have an idea?"

Rodney gave Zelenka a disparaging look, "I always have an idea."

**₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪**

The world swam into focus slowly. Sheppard was becoming aware of a pins and needles sensation that felt like his arms and legs had fallen asleep. As he moved to shake out his hand, trying to rid it of the strange feeling he was dismayed to discover that he was strapped down to the bed.

"I'm glad you've finally decided to join us Colonel."

John raised his head as high as he could to catch a glimpse of the speaker. "Yeah, well, sleep is over rated." He let his head fall back on the pillow, unceremoniously. "So why'd you strap me down?"

Beckett moved to the head of the bed and checked John's eyes with his pen light. He frowned at what he saw but did not comment on it. "We strapped you down because we didn't want to risk anymore escape attempts. Nurse Reynolds refuses to come back to the infirmary until you're officially released. I don't blame her."

Sheppard looked away from the doctor, he couldn't meet Carson's eyes. "She'll be ok though, right?"

"Aye, but I doubt she'll be comfortable around you for quite some time. You're just damned lucky that you injected her with muscle relaxants instead of morphine. Reynolds is a tiny woman, had you dosed her with something stronger that had been meant for Major Lorne she'd probably be dead by now." Carson glared at his charge, waiting for a response. After a moment of silence he realized he would get none. "Well then, let's get to it. We need have a few scans done so that we can pinpoint the exact location of the scar tissue buildup in your brain. I trust you're not going to make a run for it?" His hand paused above the strap on Sheppard's wrist waiting for an answer before undoing it.

"No," responded the Colonel impassively. He knew he had lost any control he previously had over the situation. Watching without much interested he let Dr Beckett perform the tests he needed. Any question asked of him he answered in a terse perfunctory manner and then remained silent.

With the tests done and the information being analyzed the only thing left to do was wait until it was ready. Carson seated himself next to Sheppard hoping to have a word with him.

"Do you need something?" asked the Colonel morosely.

"How are your headaches?"

"Bad, but then you already know that."

Carson nodded sympathetically, "Aye, just making sure you don't need anything."

"I need to get out of here," his voice was tinged with insistence.

"What's so important that you would risk dying? You know very well just how critical your condition is."

Sheppard sighed, "Look, for the past several weeks I had no idea you all even existed. What I was living back on that other planet... that was _my_ life. The people I was with were my family and friends. I don't know any of you, why should I stay here while those I care about are probably captured right now and being interrogated for information?"

"I can see why you're so insistent, but think about it from our point of view. You're part of our family, we care about what happens to you. If we have the means to prevent your death, why shouldn't we do it?" Carson patted the man's shoulder, "But I promise you, I will speak with Dr Weir about you going back as soon as you're able."

"And when will that be?"

"Perhaps several days from now, I've no way to know for sure."

Looking up at the Doctor he felt he could truly trust him, Sheppard nodded, "A few days may be pushing it, but if I promise to cooperate you will promise to help me get back there?"

Carson nodded, "Aye, I'll do my best."


	18. Spy vs Spy vs Spy

**A/N:** _It's been a while. Quite a long while, actually. I've always hated it when a Fic I've been following gets so close to the end and the author never updates it. I'd like to apologize for that. The reality is I had an idea how I wanted this to end, but the writing seemed to take it a different direction. Essentially I wrote myself into a corner on this one. But, never fear, I'm finishing this one. I've got an idea on how to end this monstrosity, no matter how painful it might be. Eventually I'd love to go back over this Fic and rework the plot and make it a bit more coherent... but realistically that might not happen. So I must be content with merely finishing it. This chapter has sat on a hard drive for the last 6 years, I figure I might as well post it, and then I'll get the final chapter or two up. I recently had the worst cold of my life (at least that's what I am calling it, it could have been Ebola for all I know) and after the first few days I spent the next week and a half in a drug induced stupor watching the entire series of Stargate Atlantis. How I have missed that show! As a result I decided to skim through all the half written stuff I have (which is a lot) and read over it. This story and two others that I found I very much would like to finish. So, for now, I will focus on this one, and if I can get my butt in gear, hopefully those other two will eventually grace !_

_For now, enjoy what I have for you so far. And again, I apologize for waiting 6 years before finishing this!_

* * *

**Chapter Eighteen: Spy vs Spy vs Spy vs Spy**

Rodney sat down next to Zelenka and Beckett, the three were waiting for Teyla to arrive from the mainland with Melba. Carson, after explaining his promise to Sheppard was pleasantly surprised to hear about the discovery the two scientists had made and the plan Rodney had since formulated. However they could not decide on a few details until they had gotten more information from Melba.

Minutes later the small woman arrived, a look of wonder still pasted on her face at the idea of being in Atlantis. She turned to the three and smiled, "I would like to thank you for being so accommodating and allowing us to stay with the Athosians for the time being."

"I'll cut right to the point," said McKay. He leaned forwards and stared at the woman hoping to intimidate her. "We need to know more about what happened on your planet. Why were you not on it and did you know about the medical experiments that were being conducted?"

His bluntness surprised her, she looked down at her hands hesitantly before looking back up. "I will be honest with you, however the tale is not a short one."

"Go for it."

"Very well," she paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. "As you know there are two groups of people on our planet, the Paedagogi, those born without the gene of the Ancestors, and the Agnascor, those born with it. We've been at war for centuries now, just recently it has evolved into a supposedly bloodless one.

"What you probably don't know is that on both sides there are people born with and without the gene despite their parentage. I happen to be one, I am a Paedagogi that was naturally born with the gene. My government is aware of us and have used our genetic makeup to their advantage by sending us to the Agnascors and infiltrating us into their government. We have since discovered this has been a similar strategy for the Agnascor as well."

Rodney snorted, "Ironic."

"Yes it is," agreed Melba. She continued, "Both sets of spies discovered secrets and had originally intended to turn them over to their respective governments, however through a chance meeting an agreement was brokered between the covert operatives and we have since formed a third government, one with the intention of unifying the people."

"So each county's groups of spies have actually decided to get together and form their own government that has remained secret for how long?" Carson was impressed.

"For several decades. Spies are very good at keeping secrets." The woman smiled at the looks on the faces of the men before her. "What is more interesting is we have fed false information to the two governments, keeping the true information to ourselves. We have discovered the Agnascor have possession of the Ancestral Ring, and what it's purpose was. The Paedagogi have their own secret program, one that focuses on being able to control the minds of those with the gene." She frowned, "From what you have told me about the capture of your man, I fear our group may have been compromised."

"How so?" asked Carson.

"The Agnascor have several penal camps scattered through their territory, regularly they round up large groups and send them off world with limited supplies. However among those sent away are Paedagogi scientists. Once safely away from the Agnascor they set up laboratories to study the mind control. Only recently did we start to test it, using the Agnascor guards that accompanied us through the Ring. Because of my gene and the belief that I am one of them, the Agnascor named me as administrator to one of the colonies. This gives us a way to travel back through the ring regularly to deliver reports to one of our leaders.

"If it is true, that the method was used on your people, then some of the scientists must be still completely loyal to the Paedagogi and aware of our intentions. It is the only explanation."

The three were silent for a moment. Teyla sat next to Melba trying to figure out what the scientists had planned. Zelenka spoke up, "What if we told you there was a way to possibly end the conflict between your people?"

* * *

Dr Nuar's husband, also known as Commander Nuar in Agnascor territory, nodded at several guards as they saluted him. Breezing by them he entered the headquarters and headed towards the control room. "Where is General Borsen?"

The man sitting behind the General's desk rose at seeing the Commander enter. "Sir, Borsen is dead. Killed by several insurgents that had managed to infiltrate the Ring Room."

Nuar nodded, "It's a shame. Who are you?"

"Major Canton, Sir. I've resumed temporary command until someone of higher rank could relieve me."

"Very well, you are relieve of this command. I need you to put the entire city on alert, the situation has escalated." Nuar watched the Major salute and hurry out of the room. He sat down at the desk, slightly relieved he wouldn't have to deal with General Borsen, the man intimidated him.

If things were to go well this day, then by tomorrow, the Agnascor and Paedagogi would no longer exist, only one unified people. But it was his responsibility to assure things did go accordingly. He glanced down at an open report on the desk, it detailed information on the strike on the Ring Room. His eyes widened in alarm when he read that descendants of the Ancestors had been there as well. This could be a very good or very bad thing.

* * *

Tara kept her eyes squeezed shut as another blow landed on the side of her head.

"Tell me, who are you working for?" the harsh voice of her interrogator repeated the question once more.

Barely able to maintain her consciousness she opened her eyes and glared at the man before spitting at his face. "I will die before telling you anything."

"If that is your decision, then I will respect that," his face filled with hatred he backhanded her once more, this time rendering her unconscious. He'd deal with the execution later, he exited the interrogation room and entered another after pausing for a moment to wipe blood off of his hands.

This room held the Paedagogi military man they had captured, the only one that they had not killed. The interrogator eyed him trying to determine the best way to proceed with his task. "So, what should I call you?"

"If I escape you can call me your death, if that suites you."

The interrogator laughed, "You Paedagogi scum seem to like insulting your captors. I intend to change your mind about that."

Before the interrogator could move, the door to the room flew open, Commander Nuar stood there scowling at the man. "What do you think you're doing?"

Unsure how to react to this new development the interrogator hesitated, "Uh, I'm probing the prisoner for information, Sir."

"Judging by the appearance of the one you just left, you did more than probe. The poor girl may not make it through the night." The Commander glanced at the prisoner secured to the chair and was surprised to recognize him. Through his wife he had met Colonel Rafal on several occasions, he hoped the man knew enough to keep his mouth shut. Nuar glanced at the rank insignia on the interrogator's uniform. "Specialist, I have assumed command of this post, your services are currently not needed. You may leave."

The man saluted and darted out of the door.

Nuar sighed and turned to the Colonel, "I need you to be honest with me, and maybe you'll be able to survive this. Hell, you may even come out as a hero. It depends on what you tell me." He sat down on the chair opposite to the Colonel's. "Were you sent here to terminate the man you had trained as an agent?"

Rafal stared at the Commander, his eyes narrow, suspicious of the man before him. After several minutes of silence he spoke, "Yes. We had heard that his identity had been compromised."

"By who?"

"I think the girl he was with, I am assuming that is the other captive you just come from seeing. She seems to have been following some other agenda other than the one she had originally been assigned to follow out."

The Commander nodded, "She was an unexpected variable. Hopefully she didn't complicated the situation." He changed the subject, "What do you know about the the visitors that were here? The ones saying they were from the city of the Ancestors."

"Nothing. They just showed up when we did."

With a grim smile Nuar nodded at the Colonel before standing. "For now I need to keep you detained, I'm sure you understand? Then perhaps I will be able to speak with you later." He exited the room and paused in the hallway. It seems that the situation had spun out of control due to unforeseeable circumstances. He could only hope that his wife was having more success. Until then, he had to find out more information about these people claiming to be of the Ancestors. Perhaps no one had to die today.

* * *

The procedure drained John of his energy. He found sleeping difficult as random thoughts kept popping into his head, attempting to understand them he tried to focus on each putting names to faces and locations. The effort exhausted him even more and he drifted off without any effort.

A noise woke him several hours later. Rodney was sprawled on a chair next to his bed, his legs propped up and his head tilted back. One of his hands was on the keyboard of the computer in his lap causing it to emit a loud beeping noise. Slowly easing himself into a sitting position John was pleasantly surprised to find he had no headache.

"Hey, Rodney, wake up," he pushed the man's legs off his bed, the movement startling Rodney awake.

The scientist set his computer on the empty bed next to him before getting up and stretching. "So you remember me yet?"

"You mean, do I remember you're a pain in the ass?" John smiled, "I guess you could say it's coming back to me."

Rodney grinned, "Thank god! Major Lorne was driving me nuts. He actually thinks he's my equal or something like that. You should have heard him go on about how I needed to stop being so condescending."

"Remind me to give him a promotion," John fumbled with his IV and started to tear it out.

"Whoa, what do you think you're doing?"

Already halfway out of bed Sheppard pushed away Rodney when he tried to help, "I need to go back to that planet. I'm fixed now. There's something I need to finish."

"Wait, you mean saving your friends and ending that stupid war that's going on?"

"Something like that," John swayed on his feet for a moment before Rodney hauled him back to the bed.

"Then you need to hear what we've been doing while you've been getting your brain zapped by Dr Beckett. I think you'll like this."


End file.
